


The World You've Grown

by Nightwinging_it



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Borderlands: Borderlands 2, Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2020-10-13 20:50:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 66,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20588900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nightwinging_it/pseuds/Nightwinging_it
Summary: Becoming Handsome Jack was a survival method and a defense mechanism, until he could no longer remember how to just be Timothy Lawrence. Amidst all the violence and horror that has become his norm, just one thing continuously haunts Timothy: the dead, green eyes of a girl he could not save.When Timothy is sent to Opportunity to kill the vault hunters, he prepares himself for the coming fight. Yet when the moment for slaughter comes, Tim finds himself hesitating, which proves to be a deadly mistake. Now held captive by the vault hunters, Tim finds those green eyes haunting him more than ever. Faced against vault hunters who only see him as Handsome Jack, Tim finds a spark of hope when Gaige sees a sliver of who he used to be buried under the Jack facade.But Tim knows Jack will stop at nothing to get him back, and the storm is rolling in quick. Trapped between the past and the present, he finds himself faced with the question he's been hiding from for years: Who has he become?





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been writing this in my spare time and was too afraid to post it, but with Borderlands 3 dropping in a few days, I decided to just go for it! This is my first ever Borderlands fic, so hopefully it's not too bad!

Timothy Lawrence hated going to the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve.

He’d been working for Handsome Jack for several years, and he’d seen enough horrors and cruelty to last him a lifetime. Yet there was something even more disturbing about the Preserve.

He bit back his protests whenever Jack sent him here, knowing by now that the more he complained, the more he’d see this place. Petty Jack would’ve been a more fitting name.

“Any progress on the experiments?” Tim asked the researcher leading him through the facility.

“Well, we’re running new experiments, Handsome Jack, sir, so we need a little more time to gather sufficient results and-”

Tim cut the man off with a friendly smile and an arm slung around his shoulders. “I want results by my next visit, or I’ll jab one of these into your neck, kiddo. I’ll be sure to take detailed notes on what it does to you.” He lazily twirled a vial of slag between his fingers, holding it up for the man to get a clear view.

The man swallowed audibly. “Y-Yes, sir. I’ll, uh, I’ll have our current data sent to you immediately, and we’ll update it daily.”

“Attaboy,” Tim said, letting his arm drop and slapping the man on the back.

The man hastily flipped through the papers on his clipboard. “You wanted to see our latest experiments on the human subjects, sir?”

No, actually, Timothy had no desire to see that.

“Well I’m sure as hell not here for your company, cupcake. Let’s get to the fun stuff,” Tim said, gesturing impatiently but keeping that smile on his face.

“Of course, right this way,” the man said, scurrying along down one of the hallways with Tim following.

Tim tried to remember the man’s name, but gave up after just a few moments of thinking on it. Jack went through the experimenters’ assistants left and right. The experimenters themselves got a little leeway since they were so familiar with the project, but their assistants were quick to wind up on the other side of the glass if Jack wasn’t satisfied.

The man pressed his hand against a scanner and the doors slid open. Tim followed him in, steeling himself for whatever he was about to see. Nothing good ever came out of the slag experiments. It was one thing to get covered in it, or even get it in your mouth. To have it injected directly in your body? Messy business.

The man led him over to another section of the room, where three sick people laid beyond the glass. Two were adults, but Tim’s stomach sank at the sight of the third.

She was just a teenager, certainly no older than 16 or 17. Purple veins stuck out on her pale skin and she looked at him with terrified, green yet bloodshot eyes. Blood had dried down to her chin, and she tried to back away as far as she could.

“That one,” the man said into his ECHO. “She’s still got some fight in her. Show Handsome Jack the effects.”

Tim wanted nothing more than to slam the man’s head against the glass, over and over until there was nothing left of him but a mess on the glass. He wanted to order the girl rushed to the best medical facility they had. He wanted to light this whole damn place on fire.

But he was not Timothy Lawrence right now. He was Handsome Jack.

And so he crossed his arms and tapped his foot. “Is this a zoo, or a facility I generously fund for results? Why am I just staring at a rabid animal?”

“One of our team is coming,” the man assured hastily. He clearly didn’t get how things worked. It wouldn’t be long until he was one of the adults lying on the other side of the glass, so still they looked dead already.

A worker in a heavily reinforced hazmat suit entered the chamber alongside two Loaders. The girl tried to get to her feet, but her legs were too weak, and she collapsed onto her hands and knees. She crawled as fast as she could away from the worker and his bots, towards Tim.

“Please,” she begged, and coughed blood onto the ground. “Please no more.”

Her voice was weak and choked, and more blood dribbled down to her chin. She reached a hand towards Tim as the bots grabbed her and hauled her to her feet, holding her in place.

She tried to struggle, but her body was too weak to offer much resistance. She cursed at the bots, the foul words her only remaining weapon.

The worker went over and had one of the bots hold her arm out. The worker prepped a needle and, despite the girl’s pleas and struggles, jammed it into the vein, emptying the contents into her body.

“Now, we’ve been playing around with dosages, trying to experiment on different ages and body types. The younger ones handle it better with small doses. We’re hoping we can find a safe amount to administer to a fresh test subject to be able to fully study the effects,” the man said.

But Tim was barely listening to him. The girl’s hoarse screams pierced his ears as she convulsed on the ground, body trembling and injected arm flailing wildly. Tears coated her cheeks as she dug her nails into the ground.

“Pl-pl…ease…m-make…make it…s-s-st…” She convulsed so violently that only years of conditioning by Jack kept Tim from wincing at the sight. She vomited slag onto the ground, convulsing again so that she partially rolled in it. She looked to Tim with those desperate, terrified green eyes of her, reaching her spasming arm out towards him. “H…uhhh…lp…”

Her stare became blank, glassy. Her arm thumped to the ground as her body fell still. That dead gaze stayed locked onto Tim.

I’m the last person she ever saw, he thought, and felt sick to his stomach.

She begged him for help, and he just watched her die.

One of the Loaders grabbed the girl’s ankle and dragged her away. Her head bounced on the ground, that hand still stretched towards Tim.

“We’re getting closer on a survivable dose,” the man next to him said, like they hadn’t just watched a child beg them for help as she died a miserable death.

“I’m sorry, her screaming must’ve damaged my ears. I thought you said ‘getting closer’. I believe what I should’ve heard was ‘We figured out the correct dose that our boss pays us so frickin’ much to find’,” Tim said.

The man paled. “Sir, this is an alien substance, and it takes time to see how it interacts with the human body. We-”

“Bored. Loaders! Toss him in there and have the others get started right away,” Tim said, turning away from the man.

“Sir, please, don’t do this,” the man pleaded.

He certainly didn’t care when that kid was begging for her life.

Tim hummed loudly, drowning out the sound of the man’s screams as they grew louder. He could hear the Loaders dragging the sick fuck away, and felt a cold satisfaction. Anyone who could see that display and go about business as usual deserved to be on the other end of it.

Tim waited until he was alone in the facility’s restroom to empty his stomach into one of the toilets. He flushed it and wiped his mouth, cleaning his face off with cold water at the sink and washing the bile out of his mouth.

He’d have to report back to Jack with a casual tone, like he hadn’t just watched a kid die covered in her own slag-filled puke. He couldn’t wipe the sight of her hand reaching for him, her eyes locked on him like he would be the one to finally save her from this hell.

Green eyes, made all the more vibrant by the red surrounding them. Tim gripped the edge of the sink, waiting until he was sure his stomach was settled before straightening up and leaving the room.

He’d seen so much horror. Partaken in so much of it.

But this?

She’d begged him to help her. And he’d let her die alone, caged in like an animal.

Tim leaned against the wall, pushing his hair back with his hands. She’d reached out to him and in the end, no one held her hand as she died.

“I would’ve saved you if I could’ve,” Tim whispered.

His ECHO pinged and he checked it. Jack wanted him back here to go over what he’d seen at the facility.

It was back to work. Back to pushing all the violence and twisted cruelty to the back of his mind. Back to being Handsome Jack just to please Handsome Jack.

Timothy couldn’t wait to be far, far away from this damned place.

But he knew no matter how far he went, this memory would stay with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any feedback is greatly appreciated, as I'm new to writing Borderlands and hope to improve! If you're interested, I do run a small Borderlands discord server where fans can meet and talk about all the games, and share any writing or art. If you'd like to join, please feel free to do so using this link here: https://discord.gg/3frvuMG
> 
> I'd love to meet new Borderlands fans, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on this story!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to the newest member of our discord for saying such nice things about this story!! And thank you to everyone who commented on the first chapter, I wasn't expecting to get any comments but you were all so nice and it means the world to me!

“Hey, wake up.”

Tim immediately buried his face deeper into his pillow at the voice. He had no idea what time it was, but he was positive it was too early to deal with this.

“Tiiiiiiim.”

Something jabbed into his side and he winced, pushing himself up and pointing his gun out of reflex. Handsome Jack stood before him, unphased as he impatiently pushed the gun away from his face.

“Up, cupcake. Big day ahead of you,” Jack said.

Tim dropped the gun and used his knee to nudge it back under his pillow. He scrubbed a hand down his face as Jack moved about his room, carelessly knocking things aside in a search for something.

“Big day?” Tim echoed. “What are you talking about? I thought I was just meeting with that arms dealer for you.”

“He wouldn’t sign the contract, so I gave him some time to think it over. In space,” Jack said.

“So if the guy I’m supposed to meet with is dead, how is that a big day?” Tim asked, stretching and reluctantly getting out of his bed.

“Because, I’m sending you to Opportunity,” Jack said, beaming at Tim as though he expected Tim’s gratitude.

Tim felt annoyance and a little hunger, but no gratitude. “You already have a double at Opportunity.”

“Yes, but he’s just there to look pretty and order people around. And, trust me, he looks very pretty. But I got some intel that the vault hunters were headed that way,” Jack said, and now his beaming smile had turned to that dangerous grin of his.

Tim eyed him wearily, too tired to deal with this. “Do you want them dead or alive?”

“They murdered my girlfriend, Timmy. What do you think?”

“Right. I’ll save you one,” Tim said, heading over to his closet to get dressed.

“Attaboy,” Jack said, slapping him on the back. But then his hand went up to Tim’s shoulder, nails digging in so hard Tim knew there’d be bruises. “They’re killing all my best, Timmy. If you die, I’m going to be real pissed.”

“That makes two of us,” Tim said.

Jack slammed Tim’s shoulder into the wall. “First Wilhelm, then Nisha. I’m getting really frickin’ sick of these vault hunters.”

“I’ll take care of them,” Tim assured.

Jack tightened his grip. “I want them to suffer. Let me know when they’re there so I can watch through your ECHO. You better get creative.”

“After they killed Wilhelm and Nisha? I’ve got plenty of ideas what to do to them,” Tim said, flashing a similar deadly grin back at Jack.

Jack looked excited and released Tim. Tim glanced at his shoulder before grabbing shirt and pulling it on. Bruising already.

Years in Jack’s service taught him how to handle Jack. Well, handle him as well as anyone could hope to. If he couldn’t calm Jack’s rage, he redirected it away from himself. He said whatever would prove he was on Jack’s side.

“Don’t let them mess up Opportunity. It’s looking good,” Jack said, picking up Tim’s mask and shoving it into his hands. “Get going, Handsome Jack. They’ll arrive today, and you’ll be ready.”

Tim put the mask over his face, slipping easily into his most important role. “Time to make some vault hunters suffer.”

Jack’s expression had darkened, venom dripping off his words when he spoke again. “They’re trying to undo all my hard work. They think they can kill me? The Siren. I want the Siren alive. I’ll show them what messing with Handsome Jack earns them.”

Tim internally groaned. He didn’t want to try taking a Siren alive.

“Just the Siren?” he asked, then casually added, “I can do whatever I want to the rest?”

“Whatever you want,” Jack emphasized. “Take your time with them, champ. Knock that Siren out and have a field day with the rest of them.”

“Oh, I will,” Tim said.

He finished dressing and gathered his stuff. Jack was still searching his room, though with Jack, who knew what he was looking for.

Tim styled his hair and stared at his masked face in the mirror. Sometimes when he saw surveillance footage, even he couldn’t tell if it was him or Jack in the images.

“Tim,” Jack said impatiently. “Get going. I already called the other double back.”

“I was making sure I looked good.” Tim shot Jack a sly grin. “If I’m the last thing they’ll ever see, at least they can count that a mercy.”

Jack waved him away. “Go. And make sure I get my Siren alive. I already have plans for her.”

Tim didn’t envy the Siren, that was for sure. “Sure thing. I’ll let you know when to tune in for the show.”

He left his room, rolling his neck to shake off the last of his stiffness from sleep. He’d need to be prepared if he was taking on the vault hunters today.

He already knew Jack would be well prepared. He wouldn’t risk losing Tim, not after losing Wilhelm and Nisha. Tim figured he could expect hordes of bots, and constructors waiting nearby to make even more.

Ever since Nisha’s murder, Jack had kept Tim locked up safe and sound, only sending him to deal with meetings and Helios related business. Jack’s paranoia was suffocating Tim, and getting away would be a relief. Though, fighting vault hunters sure ruined his plans for any relaxation.

Tim didn’t fool himself; he could never take the vault hunters in a fair fight. There were six of them, one being a Siren.

But with his digi-Jacks and an overwhelming amount of bots and armed workers distracting the vault hunters, he could stand back and snipe them from a safe distance. He just had to take out their knees to give himself a chance. In the chaos of battle, he should be able to manage.

The Siren would be more difficult, and he’d need to take her down fast. If he accidentally killed her, Jack would make him pay for that mistake with plenty of blood. Best not to point his gun at her if he could help it. He’d have to find another way to deal with her.

Tim reached the fast travel station and set his coordinates for Opportunity. After years of traveling around this way, he’d adjusted to the strange sensation that washed over his body as it was teleported from one spot to another, but today he shivered as he landed at Opportunity.

It was coming along well indeed, and Tim gazed up at the closest statue of Handsome Jack. He looked so imposing looming over Opportunity and its workers. A man who would never be toppled.

“Sir?”

Tim turned to the employee standing there. She seemed unsure of how to proceed, so Tim let Jack’s grin stretch across his face and gestured to the statue.

“Isn’t that the most handsome guy you’ve ever seen? Yea, of course it is,” he said.

“Absolutely, sir,” she agreed, face pale and hands fidgeting nervously. “We’ve made rapid progress, sir. I made sure my men took care of anyone who was slacking.”

“Good, good,” Tim said. “But you know what, sweetheart? If you’re talking to me, you’re not working.”

Her face paled even more, and Tim briefly wondered if she’d be sick. But she just gave a hard nod and scurried away to return to work.

Tim wasn’t in the mood to deal with any of the workers. He surveyed his surroundings, trying to find a good spot to lure the vault hunters to.

It took a bit of pacing around and experimenting, but he found a good spot on one of the roofs. He tested his sniper, making sure nothing would obstruct his view. He ordered bots to move anything they could to clear the field of cover, and sent the bots back to work when he was satisfied.

“How’s it going down there, Timmy?” Jack’s voice came over his ECHO, and Tim tested his view through the scope again.

“Nothing yet,” Tim said. “I’ve got a good spot set up just for them, though. It’ll be a real party. Audio only for you. No spot to set my ECHO up to catch a view.”

“Any damage is coming out of your paycheck,” Jack said.

God, what a dick. “What, your glorious utopia isn’t insured?”

“Your paycheck’s the insurance money, kiddo.”

Tim rolled his eyes, lowering his sniper. “Did you call for a reason? Miss having your own voice in surround-sound?”

“Partially. Business too. Kill anyone you see slacking off,” Jack said.

It went without saying, which confirmed what Tim had been dreading. Jack was worried about sending him out. If Tim got so much as a papercut on this mission, Jack would lock him back away on Helios to keep him safe.

He knew Jack would protect him. But sometimes that protection was suffocating.

“I’m keeping an eye on them,” Tim lied as he inspected his sniper and double checked his ammo supply. “Let me get back to work.”

He hung up before Jack could reply. Tim didn’t know much about these vault hunters, as Jack claimed they weren’t important enough to pay attention to.

But he knew Jack was paying very, very close attention. He’d been manipulating them to get access to Sanctuary, but now they were turning the tides against him.

Tim noticed a worker taking a smoke break in the clearing he was positioned for. The man was sitting on the steps, playing with his ECHO as he blew smoke out between his lips. Some of the other workers were glancing his way and checking their own pockets for smokes.

Tim swiftly aimed his sniper and the shot rang out as the bullet tore through the air, slamming itself between the man’s eyes. Blood splattered against the steps and his body collapsed with a heavy thud, the still-lit cigarette rolling from between his fingers.

The other workers startled away from their now dead companion, looking around wildly for the source. Tim took another shot, this one hitting the ground by their feet. They yelled in fear and finally noticed him, eyes going wide.

“I don’t pay you to pollute my air,” Tim said, aiming at one of them. “Something wrongs, kiddos? You’re still just wasting time.”

They hurried away to get back to work. Tim reloaded his sniper rifle and gestured at one of the nearby workers.

“Hey, you, clean up that mess. I don’t want any stains,” he said. As she hurried forward he gave Jack’s charming smile, but made sure his sniper was still visible. “Attagirl, sweetheart.”

Tim did not know when murder and threats became so easy for him. The moral line had blurred until it faded, and he no longer hesitated when he aimed his gun, regardless of if it was pointed at a bandit or a civilian.

He used to reason with himself that it was their life or his. He used to tell himself if he didn’t do it, Jack would, and Jack would not make it as swift as Tim.

But then he stopped telling himself anything at all, and just pulled the trigger.

Tim felt restless, so he checked his other guns, checked his ammo, checked his grenades, checked his watch. He paced the area and memorized where all the cover was, though there wasn’t much. He practiced lining up his shots. He used his scope to watch the workers that thought they were far enough for him not to see them.

He still didn’t have a plan for the Siren, but the best he could hope for was one of the bots being able to catch her by surprise and knock her out. There were six vault hunters, but he didn’t know if they’d all be attacking here.

He didn’t want to underestimate them but, dammit, Jack hadn’t told him much about them. Jack and his paranoia didn’t want to lose his precious doppelganger to the vault hunters.

Tim sat down and took out his ECHO, going through old logs just to kill time. He couldn’t waste his ammo, and tempted as he was to release his digi-Jacks, he didn’t want to waste the watch’s battery.

He busied himself reading through a contract Jack wanted him to handle the details of. Boring as it was, he let his mind focus on that, editing the contract to give Hyperion more control and profits.

“Sir!”

The voice was coming from below, and it was alarmed. Tim immediately rose and looked down at the woman he’d met upon arrival.

“Sir, several people have broken in, and they’re armed,” she said. “I’ve deployed bots to stop them and alerted the workers.”

“Lure them here,” Tim said, picking his sniper back up. He flashed a wicked grin. “All of them better make it right to where you’re standing, sweetheart, or you’re officially fired.” He settled his sniper, and she took a hesitant step back.

“Yes, sir, I’ll go, uh, get on that,” she said, and hurried away from him.

Tim cursed his own stupidity. He didn’t ask how many had broken in.

“It’s because I didn’t have breakfast,” he grumbled to himself. He needed to get this over with so he could go eat already.

He could hear the chaos, though it seemed to be coming from farther off. Tim tried to use his scope to spot the vault hunters, but all he saw was smoke. He grimaced at the sight. There goes his paycheck for the next month.

One of the statues of Jack loomed nearby, a reminder of what he’d face if he failed here. Jack wouldn’t kill him if he failed, oh no. That would be a mercy Timothy Lawrence would not receive.

Tim called Jack on the ECHO. Jack connected almost instantly.

“This place really doesn’t have insurance?” Tim asked as he watched the smoke rise higher.

“I already told you, Timmy. Your paycheck is the insurance.” Jack’s tone was the usual condescending playfulness, but Tim could sense the anger lurking below the surface.

“Well, cancel my paycheck for the next few months,” Tim said as he heard an alarming explosion. “And put a delay on the completion date.”

“Just get me my Siren, and make the rest suffer,” Jack snapped.

“A raise if I bring you their mangled bodies?” Tim said hopefully. “You can, I don’t know, taunt the Siren with them. Sounds like some dark shit you’d like. Maybe slap her with her friend’s disembodied hand.”

“Okay, keep talking, I like where this is going,” Jack said.

“Can’t keep talking. Trouble’s on its way,” Tim said, reaching down to disconnect the call.

“Keep your ECHO on. I want to hear them scream,” Jack said.

Tim grunted but obeyed, tossing his ECHO to the side so it wouldn’t get in his way. He didn’t need Jack in his ear distracting him.

Tim reached up and touched his mask, trying to clear his mind. Don’t think, just shoot. He was not Timothy Lawrence; he was Handsome Jack.

They came into the clearing, the Siren first. Her tattoos were glowing as she lifted her hand towards the bots pursuing her.

Tim watched as one of the bots was consumed by a ball of energy, suspended. Damn, that’d be tricky to avoid.

“Jack, give me full control of the bots,” Tim said without taking his eyes off the Siren. He had a clear shot of her, but he waited for the others to emerge instead.

It was a moment before Jack spoke again. “The controller you have will let you access all the bots at Opportunity now. What do you have planned?”

“Don’t distract me,” Tim said, taking out the controller. Usually it just gave him control of the bots on Helios, but he’d need to overwhelm the Siren if he wanted to defeat her.

He sent three bots at her, mildly annoyed as she shot the arms off two of them. Jack really needed to cover that weak spot.

Before he could send more at her, two more vault hunters stumbled out of the smoke, one pushing the other forward. He gave her one last shove before turning and spraying bullets into the smoke.

The vault hunter tossed a turret down, and a shield sprung up around it, buying cover for the vault hunter and his two companions. Tim cursed under his breath. Good to know he had a temporary shield. He’d need to take that one out first.

But as he lined up his shot, a robot got in his way. Tim pulled his eyes away from the scope as he stared at the robot in surprise.

“Get ‘em, DT!” the girl the turret-guy had been pushing yelled.

Tim groaned. “Seriously?”

“What’s going on?” Jack demanded.

Tim had almost forgotten Jack was there. “Nothing. I’ve got it under control. You just could’ve warned me they had turrets with shields and a giant freaking robot.”

Jack said something to that, but Tim wasn’t listening anymore. The three vault hunters were moving closer and closer to the spot he wanted them in. He lowered himself as far out of sight as he could without compromising his view.

Tim could hear their voices better now, as they yelled to be heard over the chaos. Various types of bots pursued them, and they were trying to take them out.

“Where are the others?” the Siren was asking.

“We got separated,” the turret one said. “They’ll be fine.”

So there were more. Dammit, that woman was definitely getting fired.

Tim couldn’t think on it too hard now. His main goal was the Siren, and she was where he needed her to be. They’d been backed into the clearing, and Tim aimed for the girl controlling the robot. He had a clear headshot, and slowly shifted his gun to the side so he’d take her down but not kill her. He rested his finger on the trigger. He was going to make this hurt. He was going to make sure Jack heard the girl’s screams.

But then she turned around.

Where he’d once seen only red hair, Tim now saw green eyes.

She was searching desperately for cover, and Tim’s finger froze before he could squeeze the trigger. She was so young. He’d been expecting her to be around the same age as the others, but she certainly couldn’t be older than her late teens.

And those green eyes. Those damn green eyes.

She turned and grabbed the back of the guy’s shirt. “Axton, here!” she said, yanking him behind a raised structure. “Maya!”

The three took cover and fired over it, ducking down to reload or avoid return fire. Tim knew he had his best chance now. They were so focused on staying out of sight of the bots that they were in plain sight of the sniper.

He shook himself and aimed instead at turret guy- Axton. He aimed at Axton’s knee. One good shot, and the man would never walk properly again. Not that he’d be alive long enough to try.

Yet before Tim could take his shot, Axton lifted himself to grab the girl, pulling her down hastily as one of the bots fired off missiles at them. He kept a firm hold of the girl so she couldn’t pop back out of the cover as the missiles flew at them, some striking the structure and some flying past.

Axton peeked out to make sure it was safe before releasing her and saying something to her that Tim didn’t catch. Tim growled in frustration at his own hesitation and took aim at the Siren instead.

He used the controller to order the bots to swarm her in a moment. He’d shoot her leg instead, cripple her so she couldn’t escape. Then the bots could knock her unconscious and Tim could pick off the other two.

_“Please no more.”_

Tim shuddered as those green eyes flashed through his mind, the girl reaching out for his help. Dying with her pleading gaze locked on the coward wearing Handsome Jack’s face.

Handsome Jack.

Tim raised his gun, and took the shot at the Siren.

Or, he tried to, anyways. One of the idiot bots had been thrown off balance by a shot, and their missiles hit the building Tim was on top of. The building shook, and with it, so did Tim’s aim.

The shot rang out, and Maya let out a surprised yell of pain as the shot grazed her thigh, missing her knee. She instantly turned and sprayed gunfire in the general direction the shot had come from.

Tim flattened himself on the ground, out of sight and away from the bullets. He grit his teeth. So much for his position.

“Sniper!” he heard Maya yelling to the others.

Tim crawled on his belly, off to the side. He risked a glance over his cover, and saw that Axton had deployed his turret again and switched to his own sniper rifle, carefully scanning the rooftop for signs of the new assailant.

Tim ducked his head again and fumbled for the controller, cancelling the order for the bots to swarm Maya. He instead directed them at the turret, hoping if the turret was gone, Axton wouldn’t be able to focus on him.

Sure enough, he heard loud cursing from Axton a few moments later, and the sound of his assault rifle back in action. Tim took another glance and was relieved to find the vault hunters were torn between the oncoming bots and the hidden sniper. They couldn’t focus much attention on him.

He lined up his shot again, gun pointed at Maya’s knee again. Before he could take the shot, though, she turned and spotted him.

He barely had time to react, trying to fire off a shot before she could stop him. Yet the Siren’s hand was in the air, tattoos aglow.

Tim hissed as he was caught in her attack, suspended off the ground. He struggled, his struggles growing more frantic as Maya called to Axton.

Axton aimed his gun at Tim and began to fire. Tim’s shield was failing rapidly between the Siren’s attack and Axton’s bullets. He needed a plan, and he needed it right now.

Tim managed to knock one of his grenades off with an ungraceful spasm of his hand, and Maya yelled as it hit the ground. The three vault hunters darted away just before the explosion could go off, and Tim found himself falling, fear striking through him and stealing his breath as he realized how high up he was.

He yelped as he hit a lower part of the roof and his body began tumbling down towards the edge. He released his sniper and desperately grabbed for purchase, managing to grab a beam before he fell off the edge.

He hauled himself back up into a secure spot, and realized he was completely exposed now, his sniper clattering down to the landing below. Tim took out his pistol and shifted behind the beam, making sure his footing was steady and looking at anything but the drop below him.

The vault hunters were trying to get back behind their cover, but his exposed position didn’t escape their notice. Axton took Tim’s idea and lobbed a grenade at the crowd of bots as he reached the previous cover, trying to buy time for his friends to make it back as he aimed his gun at Tim again.

His back was turned to the bots, and so he did not see one of them smack the grenade away. It bounced and rolled towards Jack’s statue just moments before exploding, rocking the ground and blowing apart the nearby bots.

Cracks ran up the statue as its base was destroyed by the blast. Tim gripped the beam for support, as the nearby buildings shook with the force.

Guess he wouldn’t have to worry about Axton after all.

The statue was tipping towards him, and he didn’t even notice. He was so focused on Tim, firing off shots that broke down Tim’s shield bit by bit. Tim returned fire, gritting his teeth and hoping the damn statue hurried up.

As it finally began to tip towards Axton, Tim heard a scream. He turned his head as the girl yelled to Axton, running forward, her robot trailing behind her.

She was going to get herself crushed. She was moving in range of the statue, and it was starting to fall over.

Another dead, green-eyed teen.

Tim grabbed the controller before his rational thought could stop him, and one of the bots flew forward, bumping into the statue.

It hesitated the fall for just a brief moment, but that moment was enough. The statue began its descent again, and the girl threw herself into Axton, the two of them tumbling away from the force of the impact as the robot hit them too.

The statue crashed to the ground, crushing several unlucky bots. Tim had to grab the beam again, squinting to see through the dust that rushed up into the air.

It was quickly swept away by Maya as she rushed forward. “Axton? Gaige?”

Her voice was frantic, but she did not lose her focus as she used the now crushed statue for cover. Tim coughed as some of the dust came up to him, squinting again as his eyes watered from it.

“We’re okay,” the girl, Gaige, said, followed by a cough.

As the rest of the dust cleared, Tim realized that they were not, in fact, okay. Axton was gripping his bloodied leg, partially pinned down by a broken off chunk of the statue. Gaige was trying to free him while her robot kept enemies off of them.

A WAR loader approached them, Gaige’s robot too busy fending off three other bots to stop it. Gaige noticed it too late, and before she could get her gun out, it stomped into the ground, sending her flying back. It aimed its arms at Axton, who must have lost his gun in the chaos, as he desperately tried to get himself unpinned to dodge.

“Axton!” Gaige cried as a bot slammed into her from behind, sending her gun clattering out of her hands and out of reach. She used her hands to drag herself forward towards Axton.

Tim froze as he watched the display. Her arm was outstretched to Axton, green eyes focused on him in wild-eyed panic.

_“I would’ve saved you if I could’ve.”_

He could save this one.

Tim swung himself down from the roof, his hand already hitting his watch before his feet hit the ground. Two familiar digi-Jacks burst forward, one red and one blue.

“Hit that WAR loader!” Tim snapped as he continued his way down to the main ground.

The red one asked no questions, simply aimed his laser and fired. The WAR loader was staggered back, throwing off its aim as its attack surged forward. It narrowly missed Axton, who winced and buried himself against the ground.

Gaige swung her head around as Tim finally hit the ground and ran forward. As her eyes locked on his, his breath caught. What the hell was he doing? Handsome Jack had ordered him to kill these people, and to make a mess of it.

Tim slowed and held up his hand to order his digi-Jacks to stand down. The red one stepped towards him like it was going to say something, but Tim lifted his gun and pointed it at Axton. Gaige hadn’t gotten up yet, and more bots were headed her way.

That got her kicking into action. She pushed herself to her feet, her body blocking Tim’s view of Axton as she grabbed one of her other guns, pointing it at him and firing.

Tim dove behind cover, though the shot would’ve missed him anyways. He recalled his digi-Jacks and switched his gun, taking a long breath. What the hell was he doing?

He raised himself over the cover, and saw Gaige trying to help a limping but freed Axton towards cover, her robot trying to block them from attacks. He aimed his gun at the robot and fired off a few shots that didn’t seem to faze the thing.

He heard the footsteps a moment before he heard the sound of something swinging through the air towards him, and flung his body to the side. The gun sailed past where his head had been just a few seconds before.

Tim aimed his gun and pulled the trigger, bullets hitting the Siren’s shield. She glared at him and pressed her heel against his ankle, threatening to break it.

Tim gave a vicious grin. Maybe he’d failed to kill the vault hunters. Maybe he’d hesitated. But he could still bring Jack the Siren. He could fix this. He could still please Jack.

He reached for his watch, only for her tattoos to glow and him to be suspended again. Tim kept the grin on his face.

“This is a fight you won’t win, cupcake,” he promised. He just needed to touch the watch. Her attacks wouldn’t work on his digital companions.

She didn’t seem impressed as she raised her gun again. “Sleep tight, asshole.”

Tim’s heart sank as the gun swung at him. As it cracked against his skull and sent him spiraling into darkness, his last thought was of green eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be posting at least once a week (if that changes, I'll let you know). Again, this is my first Borderlands fic, so I'm trying my best with the characters and the feel of the story, but feedback is always welcome! Thanks again for giving this a read!
> 
> Also you can find me over on Tumblr at snugasanug ! ^-^


	3. Chapter 3

Tim groaned a little at the throbbing in his head. He tried to open his eyes, but his vision remained dark.

What had happened?

His aching head refused to call up the details, and so Tim squeezed his eyes shut and tried to think past the pain. He wanted to reach up and rub his head, but his arms would not comply.

He became aware of a rocking sensation, and nausea coiled in his stomach. He focused instead on his breathing, trying to calm his stomach and ease his headache.

When he was certain he wouldn’t be sick, he tried opening his eyes again, but it was still dark. He tested his hands, but they wouldn’t move. This time, though, he felt something binding his wrists together.

_Captive_.

It came rushing back to him, and he had to focus on his breathing as the nausea returned. He’d hesitated. He’d saved Axton instead of killing him. He’d had a clear shot at Gaige and didn’t take it. He’d been foolish enough to focus so hard on them that the Siren captured him.

God, Jack was going to be so fucking pissed.

Tim groaned again, but this time it was out of exhaustion. He was in such deep shit. If the vault hunters didn’t kill him, Jack would take his time torturing Tim.

He listened hard, trying to get a sense of where he was. He was in a vehicle, as he could now hear the engine, and identified the rocking. He heard what sounded like someone reloading a gun. He heard a scraping sound. But no voices.

There wasn’t much sense of time, so Tim closed his eyes again and just tried to focus on the sounds and his own breathing. They hadn’t killed him. Did they think he was the real Jack? They’d probably searched him for a disguising pocket watch once he was knocked out.

The vehicle slowly came to a stop, and he heard people shifting around. Someone grabbed him roughly and lifted him, throwing him over their shoulder. Tim let himself hang limp, hoping they’d just think he was still unconscious.

He was carried along for a bit before coming to a stop. He felt that oddly familiar sensation of fast travel, and then whoever was carrying him started moving again.

It wasn’t long before he was roughly set on the ground. He felt someone locking his already bound arms and legs, testing his restraints to make sure they were tight and secure.

“Wake up,” someone said, kicking him in the stomach.

Tim coughed and glared at the darkness. He lifted his head and closed his eyes as whatever was over him was yanked off, the sudden light hitting him. He slowly blinked his eyes open and looked around.

He couldn’t help but laugh at the sight. “Oh, come on, you’ve got seven vault hunters and you still need to restrain me?” He tugged against the restraints and laughed harder at how bizarre the whole situation was. They did realize the real Jack still used those stupid laser weapons, right? “You’re frickin’ pathetic. How many vault hunters does it take to fight Handsome Jack?”

“Go find Lilith and Roland,” one of the vault hunters said to the others. Mordecai? Yea, that was his name. Tim remembered him from the news of the vault hunters opening that tentacle monster vault. Lilith was the one who had disfigured Jack. And tried to kill all of them.

This was going to pleasant.

“We’re staying,” Maya said firmly, gesturing to herself, Axton, and Gaige. “We were the ones who fought him.”

“Sure, fine, but you three go find Lilith and Roland. They’ll want to see this,” Mordecai said,

The other three vault hunters reluctantly left, which eased the weight in Tim’s anxious chest. That psycho had been eyeing him like he wanted to wear Tim’s- well, Jack’s- face.

Axton was sitting, his leg stretched out and bandaged. Gaige stood next to him, her arms crossed and eyeing Tim.

“Axton, you should go see Zed,” Maya said without looking at him.

“Maya, I don’t know if Zed’s ever told you because he’s very secretive about it, but he doesn’t have a medical license,” Axton said. “My leg is fine.”

“Oh, oh, you could amputate it and get a robotic one!” Gaige said, stretching out her robotic arm. “It’d look so badass!”

Mordecai sighed heavily. “Did you guys forget we have a bit of a situation here?”

Tim slipped into his Jack persona and smiled. “I’m pretty damn hard to forget about. How’s the leg, kiddo?”

Maya kicked him roughly with it. “Working just fine.”

“Point taken,” Tim grumbled. “So, you bring me here just to see how good I look all bound up? My girlfriend could’ve told you that if you hadn’t frickin’ murdered her, by the way.”

“You’re not the real Jack, and we know it. Jack’s too much of a coward to fight his own battles,” Maya said.

Well, yea, that was true.

“Oh?” Tim said, raising an eyebrow. “Then where’s the pocket watch disguising me?”

They hesitated at that, looking to each other for answers. Tim leaned back, satisfied.

“Thought so,” he said.

“You didn’t find a pocket watch on him anywhere?” Mordecai asked.

“No,” Maya admitted, not looking at Tim.

“And you won’t. I’m the real deal, champ,” Tim said. “Go on, be awed.”

But when he leaned back, he felt the bindings on his wrist rub against bare skin. He paused and shifted his wrist again, his stomach sinking.

His watch was gone.

Tim mentally swore, but tried to keep the same expression on his face. No way he’d get out of this without his watch. There were too many of them, and if his watch was gone, chances were his weapons and shield were, too.

Man, this freaking sucked. Jack was going to be so pissed at him. And he never even got breakfast.

“He’s awfully quiet to be Handsome Jack,” Mordecai said.

Tim hummed thoughtfully. “Just thinking of all the things I plan to do to you when I get freed. And I will get freed, by the way. Don’t kid yourselves here. The hero is going to win this one, and you’ll just be a few more dead bandits.”

Mordecai knelt down and gripped a handful of Tim’s hair. “I hope you are the real Jack, so I can pay you back for what you did to Bloodwing.”

Oh, yea, that hadn’t sat well with Tim. Killing people was one thing, but torturing and blowing up a bird? That was a little dark, even for him.

“You’re still hung up on that stupid bird?” Tim said, forcing a laugh. “You could slit my mother’s throat in front of me and I’d be over it by lunch. Speaking of lunch, you got anything to eat? I’m starving. Could go for some bird meat, now that you mention it. Think yours went rotten yet? I’m sure that explosion cooked it pretty well.”

Mordecai released Tim’s hair and punched him in the face, snapping his head to the side. “Jack or not, fuck you.”

“You’re all so sensitive around here,” Tim said, spitting blood from his mouth. “Also violent. I wouldn’t expect anything else from pathetic bandits, though.”

He hadn’t been kidding about the lunch thing. God, he was hungry. If he made it out of this alive, he was never skipping breakfast again.

“Did you find anything on him?” Mordecai asked, turning away from Tim with a look of disgust.

“Weapons, a digistruct watch, and a controller. We think it was for the loaders, but it wouldn’t let us input commands,” Maya explained.

“That’s because it only responds to Handsome Jack, babe,” Tim said, wiggling his fingers.

Maya ignored him. “There wasn’t much time to look around for anything else. Axton and Salvador were both injured. Gaige thought she saw an ECHO up on the roof, but we couldn’t make it up there. The loaders were coming in too great a force.”

Tim’s heart stuttered in his chest. His ECHO. Oh god, Jack had been listening in.

If Maya had yelled to the others that she’d knocked him out, Jack would’ve heard it. He’d be furious. He’d be desperate to get Tim back into his clutches.

Tim had spent the last few years worming his way into Jack’s limited trust. Where Nisha kept Jack satisfied with sex and company, and Wilhelm kept him satisfied with violence and results, Tim kept him satisfied with loyalty. All his time spent training as an actor proved crucial during the past few years in Jack’s employ.

He learned what to say and how to react to keep Jack pleased. He endured Jack’s rage and came right back to him like a loyal dog. Jack trusted Tim as much as the paranoid psychopath could trust anyone.

Knowing the vault hunters had Tim would drive Jack insane with rage. Jack would tear through Sanctuary to get Tim back.

Tim looked at the people in the room with him. Jack would murder every single one of them.

His eyes fell to Gaige. Jack would kill her. He would make sure she pleaded and reached for help. He would torture her until she screamed and begged.

Tim could save her. Maybe that girl from the Preserve didn’t get to grow into an adult, but he could make sure Gaige did. He could save someone. In all the violence and chaos, he could save someone.

His original plan had been to convince them he was Jack. Unnerve them, keep them trying to figure out if he was real or not long enough to find an escape plan.

But if he wanted to save Gaige, he had to out himself as Timothy Lawrence. And he knew how to do that.

They would’ve figured him out eventually. If they tried to broadcast that they had captured Handsome Jack, the real Jack would’ve just shot back that they were so stupid they couldn’t tell the difference between a double and the real thing.

If he could show he wasn’t Jack, though, maybe they would listen to him. He couldn’t save all of them. They’d kidnapped him and murdered Nisha and Wilhelm; Jack would get revenge. But maybe he could at least save the kid.

If he saved her, maybe he’d stop having nightmares about green eyes watching him.

The door to the room swung open and Tim looked up as Lilith and Roland came into the room. Lilith eyed him up and down, looking disgusted.

“He doesn’t have a pocket watch,” Mordecai explained. “Lil, there’s a chance…”

Lilith strode forward and knelt down, gripping his chin and staring into his bicolored eyes. He knew he shouldn’t, but in a moment of Jack’s rage, he recalled how she and the others attempted to kill them on Helios, and he spit blood at her.

Lilith wiped it off her face calmly before striking him. His head knocked back against the wall and he groaned.

“Oh, come on. Quit going for the face,” he said.

“He’s whiny enough to be the real Jack,” Lilith said, standing up.

Tim glared up at her, a savage grin tearing across his face. “Want to know for sure, Lilith? Take my mask off. Go ahead. You know what should be there if I’m the real Jack.”

Lilith straightened up a little and narrowed her eyes, looking for any sign of a trick. But he was bound tightly, and there was nothing he could pull. Unless he wanted to spit on her again. Honestly, he kind of did want to spit on her again.

“Lilith?” Maya said at the other woman’s hesitation.

“He’s right. If it’s the real Jack, I’ll know,” Lilith said, kneeling back down.

She reached out, and Tim had to focus so he didn’t flinch back. Much like Jack, very few had seen him without the mask on.

Lilith undid the clasps and held the mask between her fingers. He could feel all eyes on him, but he could only stare right at Lilith. Let her see what she’d caused.

She pulled the mask away, letting it fall to the ground. He heard a sharp intake of breath from where Gaige and Axton were, but his gaze stayed locked on Lilith as her eyes widened a little.

“It’s…not him,” she said.

Her eyes traced the scar on Tim’s face. It was just as horrible as Jack’s scar, but it was not blue.

Tim felt a bitter hatred rise up in him. “You did this,” he hissed. “You did this to him, and he did it to me.”

“The body double,” she said in understanding.

Realization came to Roland’s face as well. “You were one of the vault hunters who helped him open the vault on Elpis.”

“Saved the moon, opened a vault, killed a deadly monster, got branded. Would’ve rather had a ‘I opened the Elpis vault and all I got was this lame shirt’ tee instead, but the brand does the job,” Tim said.

“He’s not Jack?” Maya said.

“Jack had a body double. Surgically altered to look like him if I remember right,” Roland said.

“Oh, you do,” Tim said. He looked back to Lilith. “Take a good frickin’ look sweetheart, because this wasn’t a surgical add-on. Oh, no, this came later, and let me tell you, it freaking hurt.”

“You chose to work for Jack,” Lilith said and stood up, leaving his mask on the floor and his face exposed to the others. “He’ll do the job.”

“You realize I’m an investment, right? He won’t just let you have me,” Tim said, a truth and a warning.

“Get what you need from him,” Lilith commanded and left the room.

Tim hoped it was because she couldn’t stand to look at his face. He took a slow breath, trying to control his anger.

“What?” he said, noticing how the others were still staring at him. “I’m still prettier than you lot.”

“We could use him to bypass the defenses,” Roland said thoughtfully. “He’s not just disguised to look like Jack. This guy pretty much is Jack.”

“Angel said the double we were after was just using the pocket watch to be cloaked to look like Jack, though,” Maya said.

Angel? Tim furrowed his brow. He vaguely recognized the name. Wasn’t that the name of whatever Jack had used to get into Sanctuary? Some AI or something.

“Well, this is what we got,” Roland said.

“I’m right here, you know,” Tim reminded.

Roland ignored him. “Keep a guard on him at all times. I’ll go talk with Lilith about our next step.”

Roland left the room and Maya followed after another look at him. Tim leaned back, resting his head against the wall.

“So, do I just piss myself, or can I call for a bedpan?” he asked, just to break the silence. And also because he was actually curious.

“After what you said about Bloodwing? Piss yourself,” Mordecai said.

"You know, now I see why Jack hates you people,” he said and closed his eyes.

Oh, Jack was going to hate these people. He’d burn this whole damn place to the ground for taking Tim.

Tim opened his eyes, looking to Axton and Gaige. “When she pistol whipped me out of consciousness- which was rude and extremely painful, by the way- did she yell to you guys that I was down?”

“She did,” Axton said after glancing at Gaige.

Tim let out a humorless laugh and leaned back again. “Then Jack knows you have me, and he knows exactly who took me down. He’ll be coming. You’re all fucked.” He lightly beat his head against the wall. “I’m fucked. Shit. If he didn’t love his own face so much he’d claw it off my damn bones.”

The door suddenly opened and Tim looked up. His face paled and he stared in horror.

“Not-Jack!” Claptrap said.

“No,” Tim said, trying to scramble back against the wall. “No, no, you’re dead. Jack-I mean me-I mean, I’m Jack but- oh, dammit, you were dead. All you stupid ass Claptraps were dead.”

Jack had told him Claptrap survived the elimination, but seeing him was a whole other thing. He’d felt horribly guilty when he realized what Jack planned to do, and even worse when he watched Jack personally kill Claptrap. After all, he’d called them his friends and refused to betray them.

But, man, did he hate this stupid thing.

“Get away from me,” Tim said as Claptrap approached. “Man, I hate you. Do you hear me? I hate you. I kind of felt a moral conflict about you dying, but seeing you alive reminds me why I only kind of felt it.”

“Ah, I see you’ve met my minions!” Claptrap said, completely ignoring him as he gestured to Axton and Gaige.

“Get it out of here and I will tell you anything you want to know,” Tim begged Mordecai.

To Tim’s surprise, it was Axton who shooed the Claptrap away, telling it to go find him a health kit. Claptrap left the room and Tim relaxed.

“Of all the freaking things to survive Jack, it had to be him,” Tim said, shaking his head.

Axton shifted and winced, gripping his leg. Gaige stood up and urged Axton to his feet.

“Mordecai, you get first watch. This idiot will die of infection before Jack kills us all at this rate,” Gaige said.

Tim wanted to tell her to walk out that door and keep walking until she was far away from Sanctuary. But when she glanced at Tim, he knew she’d come back. The two of them had stuck around because he’d saved them, and they knew it.

So he kept his mouth shut and watched them leave. Mordecai sat in a chair nearby but did not acknowledge Tim.

Tim closed his eyes, ignoring the pounding in his head and the growling in his stomach. This was going to be a long shitshow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone is enjoying Borderlands 3 as much as I am!! And yes, I stop and stare at the poster Tim is on every time I walk past it because I miss him. But since Gearbox won't give him back to me I guess I'll just keep writing this ;-;


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I thought it over, and for now I'm going to try to do 2 updates a week as often as possible. Hopefully new chapters every Monday and Friday if I can find the time!

Someone nudged him, and Tim turned his head away from them. They nudged him again and he grunted.

“Jack?” he mumbled.

This time his eyes shot open as they kicked him in the stomach. “Not quite.”

Tim looked up at Lilith. She crossed her arms, putting her foot back down to the ground.

“Like what you see?” he sneered.

“What does Jack know about Sanctuary?” Lilith asked.

“That he wants to destroy it. That’s all he needs to know,” Tim said, and wasn’t surprised to have her foot burying itself in his gut again. “You’re so freaking lucky I skipped breakfast, or I’d be puking all over your shoes.”

“The Bunker. The key. The vault. Tell me everything you know,” Lilith demanded. “And don’t think this is optional. You’re going to talk.”

“I’m pretty good at talking,” Tim agreed, glaring as she kicked him again. “You already know he’s charging the key to wake the Warrior. You don’t need to kick my stomach into my spine just to hear me tell you what you already know.”

“What are the Bunker’s defenses?” Lilith asked.

Tim shrugged. “I don’t go there.”

“You work for Jack,” Lilith said.

“So did every person at Opportunity, yet you only took me,” Tim said. “I look like him, I sound like him- for the next 20 to 30 years, unfortunately- but I’m not him and I don’t know everything he knows. You want answers? You got the wrong Jack.”

“You know more than you’re letting on. You’ve been with him since his rise to power,” Lilith said. “If you’re still alive and working for him, I doubt you’re just like the guys walking around cloaked to appear like him.”

She was right of course; Jack could grab anyone and cloak them to look like him. The pocket watch doubles were abundant enough, because they were disposable.

Not Timothy.

He was the only surgically altered Jack. The only one who had been there right from the start. The only one Jack trusted to handle the big issues. Tim knew plenty of Hyperion secrets, and much of Jack’s business. He’d carefully earned his place at Jack’s side.

He’d been to the Bunker before, but only so Jack could show him the impressive defense system he’d implemented. The vault hunters would struggle against it, maybe even fall to it. Jack had poured a lot of money into the BNK3R to make sure it was ready for any assault.

But he wouldn’t tell that to the vault hunters, regardless of how mercilessly they tortured him. Whatever was stored away at the Bunker was of vital importance to Jack. They couldn’t get their hands on it.

_Don’t protect his secrets. He disfigured you._

Tim shook those thoughts from his head. He and Jack had a complicated relationship.

“I stand there, look pretty, and get shot at,” Tim said. “You want to know about Jack’s hairstyle routine? Sit down and listen up. You want to hear about his defenses? Probably should’ve kept Wilhelm alive.”

Lilith looked frustrated, but thankfully did not kick him again. Tim wondered if he could ask for food, but decided that would definitely earn him another kick, and so he did something very unJack-like, and did not speak.

“What do you know about Angel?” she asked instead.

“Clearly not as much as you. Just that Jack used Angel to attack Sanctuary,” Tim said honestly. “I know you probably thought you hit the jackpot- pun partially intended- with me, but you really didn’t, kiddo. My purpose is to get shot at so Jack doesn’t.”

“You said he’d try to get you back,” Lilith said.

“Oh, he’ll succeed,” Tim said. “But not because I’m a security risk. I’m an investment. A very, very expensive investment. He won’t let filthy bandits keep his prettiest toy.” Tim laughed, if only because he realized how much trouble all of them were in when Jack made his move. “Oh, man, you guys really screwed up.” He closed his eyes, tilting his head back as he laughed harder. “This is just…this is just how my stupidass life goes.”

He didn’t have to open his eyes to know Lilith was glaring at him again. He managed to get his laughter under control, tugging on the restraints until his wrists hurt to distract himself from his thoughts.

“What will Jack do?” Lilith asked.

“Kill you all, probably,” Tim said.

She pressed her lips together before abruptly turning and leaving the room. Tim settled back, wondering what Jack would do to him once he had him back.

Beat him? Choke him? Definitely that one. Jack loved to choke people. He’d once choked Tim so viciously that Tim couldn’t speak for almost two weeks after.

Ah, strangle, not choke. Jack hated it when Tim called it choking.

Tim stared down at his mask, still lying on the floor at his feet. He turned his face away, not wanting to remember the agony of the branding, or Jack’s calm voice saying Tim needed it to truly be Handsome Jack.

How did his life become this? He’d taken the body double gig to pay off his student loans, and ended up on the moon, disfigured, and eventually being kidnapped by vault hunters who wanted to kill the guy he was impersonating.

“This sucks,” he grumbled, and shifted his arm to feel the restraints brush against his bare wrist. He had to find his watch.

Jack knew where he was, but he had no way to reach Tim. Would he use the Guardian Angel? Tim wasn’t quite sure how she functioned, but if she got him access to Sanctuary once, maybe he’d use her to do it again. Jack would find a way. He wouldn’t let Tim slip through his possessive grasp.

Tim rested back against the wall and let his eyes sweep the room. He’d already surveyed it carefully and the odds were not in his favor even if he could somehow manage to get the restraints off.

They had him chained to the far wall. The room was decently sized, but mostly barren. There were a few chairs, and a heavy door at the end of the room. When he’d watched them come in and out of it, he couldn’t see much past it, but he could tell that there was another room beyond. Getting out of this room did not equal freedom.

Even if he did manage to escape here, his only option for escape was a fast travel station, and they’d immediately guard them if he got free. No, Tim would have to rely on either Jack or his own wits to get out of this situation.

And he planned to get out. He would not stay to watch Sanctuary burn to the ground.

But he did want to get that girl out.

Tim closed his eyes, letting his head fall to the side. They’d be back to question him, so he might as well steal whatever sleep he could.

***

Tim felt a pressure on his throat, and he yelled in panic.

He tried to get away before he even opened his eyes. “Jack, please,” he said before banging his head against the wall and wincing. He’d done something wrong. Jack was angry.

“Hey.” The voice was sharp, and not Jack’s.

Tim panted for air and looked up. Mordecai knelt before him, Axton behind him with a can in his hands.

Tim felt panicked, and his panic turned to anger, but he did not speak. He was embarrassed at his own reaction to any pressure on his throat.

Mordecai waited until Tim’s breathing eased before standing up and turning to Axton. “I felt a voice modulator in his throat.”

“No,” Tim said in surprise. “I have one of those? I thought I sounded different.”

Mordecai ignored that. “We can use him, definitely. I’ll go talk to Lilith.”

He left the room and Tim didn’t particularly like the sound of that. There were a lot of ways they could use the perfect body double of Handsome Jack.

“Here,” Axton said, kneeling where Mordecai had been and holding up the can.

“This is so romantic,” Tim said, but felt his mouth watering at the sight. “Oh, screw it, just give me some. I’m starving.”

Axton didn’t speak as he fed the contents of the can to Tim. Tim’s stomach could’ve wept with joy as the food hit it. It was trash compared to what he ate with Jack, but food was food and he was too hungry to be picky.

He felt like the old Timothy Lawrence. Broke and helpless, eating cheap, canned food and wondering why his life had to suck so much. Ah, nostalgia.

He didn’t feel full when the can was emptied, but he also didn’t feel hungry, and so it was an improvement and he’d settle for now. He tried to shift to stretch a little, but the restraints were too tight.

“So you guys are just keeping me here? Or do you actually plan to do something?” Tim asked, keeping his tone casual. “I’m too pretty to waste away in this dump.”

Axton stood up and Tim didn’t miss the wince of pain as Axton shifted too much weight onto his injured leg. They must not have gotten a health kit into him in time. He picked up the empty can and headed for the door, but paused before he opened it, looking over his shoulder at Tim.

“You didn’t kill me,” he said.

“Did you figure that out all on your own?” Tim said, wishing he could slow clap. “A+ kiddo, great observation.”

“You didn’t kill Gaige,” he said.

“Are we just listing all the people I didn’t kill? Is this supposed to…mock me?” Tim said, because he didn’t want to admit that he’d saved them. Jack was going to be so mad about this whole situation. At this point, Tim didn’t know if he was better off with Jack or the vault hunters.

Axton said nothing more, just left the room. Tim guessed someone was waiting outside the door, or that they had a way to visually monitor him. He didn’t see any cameras, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any.

He shifted uncomfortably, not liking the silence of the room. He tapped his foot on the ground, just to break the silence.

His privacy and solitude were things he once craved, back when he first started working for Jack. Now he hated the silence, because with silence came thoughts and with thoughts came emotions. Emotions could lead to regret, to doubt, and Tim did not want either of those things. He was in too deep. There was no turning back. There was no going back to being Timothy Lawrence.

Maybe this was their play, though. Keep him isolated, drive him crazy with solitude. And if that didn’t work, violence. Jack would usually try those methods in reverse.

Tim was used to isolation and he was used to violence, but that didn’t mean he preferred either. So he shifted his wrists, trying to get a feel for how he was bound. He studied his ankles, the thick rope holding them together and the chains latching him to the wall.

This wasn’t looking good. They planned to use him for something, and he couldn’t find a way to escape.

“C’mon Jack,” he mumbled to himself as he tugged at the restraints. Jack would get him out of this. Jack would make sure he was okay, bring him back to Helios. He would punish Timothy for failing, and then he would make sure no one else got their hands on him.

He didn’t know how much time had passed. He tried to keep himself occupied by twisting at the restraints, humming to himself, going over everything he knew about the vault hunters, imagining what Jack would do to them and to him. Anything to keep himself from thinking on the past.

The door swung open and he looked up, groaning as the big man entered. “I hate my stupid ass life. I hate it.”

“Oh, you’re about to,” Brick said, cracking his knuckles.

Lilith stood behind him. “Get what information you can out of him, Brick.”

As eager as Brick had seemed, he glanced at Lilith before making any moves. “You sure, Lil? This seems like something Jack would do.”

“He tried to shoot Maya, and almost killed Axton and Gaige,” Lilith said.

“’Almost killed’ is very different than ‘actually killed’,” Tim pointed out. “Really, by Pandora’s standards, I’m pretty innocent.”

“You helped Jack rise to power, and then you stayed by his side,” Lilith said, voice cold. “All the vile things that man has done, and you still wear his face.”

“In my defense, it’ll blow up if I try to take it off,” Tim said.

But even if he could, would he? He tried not to think about it. It was his face for as long as he was under the contract. He could worry about his future another time.

Well, if he lived long enough to have a future.

“Brick, Jack wants to kill everyone on Sanctuary. He wants to open the vault and wipe out everyone on Pandora that he doesn’t deem worthy. This man has been helping him from the start, and this man could be the key to stopping him,” Lilith said. Tim had spent years reading facial expressions, at first to help his own acting, and once in Jack’s employ to protect himself and manipulate whoever Jack needed him to. Lilith was acting hard about this, but he saw that tight press of her lips, the way she didn’t look at him. She didn’t like this; she just felt the information was too important not to gather.

Brick nodded and stalked towards Timothy, placing a foot on his shoulder and kicking him back against the wall. “The Bunker. What are its defenses?”

“I don’t know,” Tim said, gazing up at him with a taunting expression on his face. He shrunk into some dark part of himself, letting Jack take over.

Brick slammed Tim’s shoulder against the wall with a rough force. “The Bunker’s defenses. Or I pop it out of place.”

That was all? That was like a pat on the back from Jack.

Tim pretended to be thoughtful. “Bunker’s defenses…” His face brightened. “Oh, wait, I remember now.”

They watched him with caution as he shifted, pulling against the restraints so they could see his hand. He flicked his middle finger up pleasantly.

“Any help at all? Any?” he asked.

He winced as his shoulder was popped out of place, hanging limply at his side. “I’ve been shot, and had the absolute hell beaten out of me by vault monsters. You think that’ll bother me? Child’s play.” He leaned forward, taunting. “You’re bandits, right? Go ahead. Be savage. Go nuts, kiddos.”

Brick gripped his jaw. “I’m sick of hearing Jack’s voice. Maybe if I break your nose, you won’t sound so annoying.”

“Oh, no, trust me, I still sound just as annoying,” Tim assured. “You think you’re sick of it? I’m stuck this way for the next few decades, pal.”

Brick pulled his fist back and Tim steeled himself for the pain. Jack better give him a goddamn raise for this.

“Wait!”

They all looked at the door as Gaige came in. “Hold up, I need to talk to him before you disfigure him, Brick. Or, uh, disfigure him more. ‘Handsome’ is the last word I’d use to describe that face.”

Tim shrugged. “Honestly, it’s an improvement. No more soul patch.”

“Jack had a soul patch?” Gaige said in confusion.

“It was hideous,” Tim said. “This stupid little patch of fuzz on his- my- our, whatever, on Jack’s face.”

“Focus!” Lilith said, snapping in Gaige’s face. “What do you need?”

“To talk to him. Hellooo, I literally just said that,” Gaige said. When the others didn’t move, she gestured impatiently towards the door. “Like, alone.”

“We’re in the middle of something,” Brick said, jerking Tim’s jaw back and forth.

“Privacy, now!” Gaige commanded, pointing at the door again.

“Fine,” Lilith said reluctantly. “Make it quick. We need the information he has about Jack.”

“Did I not just give you the most important information about Jack? That under the mask, there’s no more stupid ass soul patch?” Tim said. “That’s crucial.”

Lilith ignored that as she and Brick left the room. Gaige kicked the door shut and came over to him. She grabbed his arm and his eyes widened.

“Oh, don’t you dare. Don’t you da-ARGHHHH! YOU LITTLE…AH.” He cursed loudly and tried to scramble away from her as she shoved his shoulder back into place.

She sat cross-legged in front of him. “You could’ve killed us, and you didn’t.”

“You all make such good observations around this place,” he snarled, rolling his shoulder and wincing. “Son of a bitch.”

She whacked his shoulder and he hissed in pain. “Stay with me, asshole. Why didn’t you kill us? You stopped that statue from crushing Axton.”

Tim sighed in irritation. Mostly, he was irritated at the whole situation. He didn’t want to be here, he didn’t want to disobey Jack’s orders, and he didn’t want to be the old Timothy Lawrence with his old morals. If he became that person again, he wouldn’t survive Jack’s world.

Instead, he met Gaige’s eyes. “Jack will want me back, and he will stop at nothing to get me back. You guys murdered Wilhelm and Nisha. He sent me to get revenge for that. Now you’ve got me too. He’ll kill all of you, and he’ll make it agonizing. Get out of here while you can.”

She scoffed, unafraid. “Run from that bitch? He can’t even do his own dirty work.”

“You don’t know what he’s capable of,” Tim hissed. “Look at my face. Look what he did to one of his own. What the hell do you think he’ll do to you?”

One of his own.

It had become so easy to think of himself as one of Jack’s. He was not Jack’s equal, no, he was Jack’s possession. But he was one of Jack’s favorite possessions, and Jack had still branded him.

“You’ll get through it, Timmy,” he’d encouraged. “I did.”

And Tim did get through it.

“I’m not afraid of Jack,” Gaige said, crossing her arms.

“Then you’re a fool,” Tim said simply.

Gaige rested her elbows on her knees, studying Tim. “What do you know about Angel?”

“Less than you,” he said, which appeared to be true. “Just that Jack used her, or it, to get into Sanctuary.”

Gaige narrowed her eyes at him. “Hmmm.”

She abruptly stood up. “I’m not done with you.”

“You should be done with all of this,” Tim urged. “Trust me, kiddo, Jack will come for all of you. If you get out now, you might survive this.”

“Nah, not a little bitch like him,” she said, heading for the door. “Catch you later, not-Jack.”

When the door closed behind her, he waited for Lilith and Brick to come back and continue their “interrogation”. But the door did not open again, and he was left alone once more with only an aching shoulder and a sense of frustration.

He needed to find some way to get the girl away from all this. She didn’t understand how brutal Jack could be. They were all underestimating him. They would all pay for that mistake.

Jack would come for them. It was just a matter of time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll try to stick with 2 updates a week, as long as I don't get busy or post faster than I write! Any feedback is appreciated, as I'm super nervous about trying to write some of these characters!


	5. Chapter 5

Gaige waited until the heavy door had shut before holding up her hand to her companions. “Don’t beat the shit out of him just yet. I have an idea.”

“Which is?” Lilith asked.

“Angel,” Gaige said simply. “If this guy worked for Jack, maybe Angel knows something about him. She might tell us a more effective way to get some answers out of him.”

“We don’t have time, Gaige. We need to get those answers and then use him to get into the Bunker,” Lilith said.

“This won’t take long,” Gaige said and left the building. They kept two guards outside of the building at all times in case not-Jack escaped, but so far, he’d only shifted around in his restraints. They’d secured his weapons away, so even if he did get out, they should be able to quickly get him locked up again.

Gaige returned to headquarters, where Salvador was snoring on one of the beds. She went upstairs, finding Axton sitting outside with his injured leg stretched out.

“Where are Maya, Krieg, and Zer0?” she asked.

“Krieg kept ranting about wanting to make a face pizza out of not-Jack, so Maya took him down to let off some steam on bandits,” Axton said. “Zer0 could be behind us for all I know. You know how he is.”

Gaige checked behind her just in case. “Zer0, you here dude?” When she got no response, she shrugged it off and took out her ECHO.

Axton eyed it curiously. “What are you up to?”

“I want to know more about not-Jack before Brick snaps him like a twig,” she said. She played around with the ECHO for a moment. “Angel? Are you there?”

It took a moment for her to respond. “I apologize for my silence, friend. Things have…gone bad, since your attack on Opportunity. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize Jack sent his doppelganger there to replace the pocket watch Jack.”

“So you know him?” Axton said.

“Vaguely, yes. You won’t get anything out of him, if that’s what you’re hoping. He’s loyal to Jack,” Angel said.

“How is he loyal to Jack? He even said Jack fucked up his face!” Gaige said.

“Language!” Axton chastised, only to receive a middle finger in his face. He grabbed it and pushed her hand away. “She’s right, though. Not-Jack said real-Jack messed up his face like that.”

“Jack did,” Angel confirmed. “Jack has hurt him a lot. But Jack…” She hesitated a moment. “He’s Jack’s perfect copy, and Jack invested a lot of money into him. He needed to make sure the doppelganger was loyal, so the investment wouldn’t be wasted. He orchestrated several assassination attempts against him. In each, he was critically injured, and Jack either saved him, or rushed to his side. He stayed with him for his recovery, and made sure no one else was around to comfort him. He wanted the doppelganger to believe he was important to Jack, and that Jack was the only person who did or would care about him. And that’s…well, that’s just the most basic manipulation technique he used.”

“Shit,” Axton said.

“Language,” Gaige mocked.

“You don’t think we’ll be able to get anything out of him?” Axton pressed.

“It’s highly unlikely,” Angel said. “Jack broke him down to nothing and built him back up to a loyal soldier.”

“But he didn’t kill us,” Gaige said. “Jack sent him there to kill us, right? Why would he save us?”

“Maybe he’s an idiot?” Axton said. “You can’t be that bright if you agree to be Jack’s body double.”

“I don’t know why he saved you,” Angel admitted. “To be honest, I don’t know much about him. Jack keeps him hidden. I don’t even know his real name. There are no records of him in the Hyperion databases. But I can tell you that Jack is furious that you have him.”

“He warned me Jack would come after us,” Gaige said. “He pretty much told me to run.”

“He-” Angel’s voice cut out for a moment. “I have to go. I’ll be in touch. Stay safe.”

She cut away and Gaige prodded her ECHO like she could bring Angel back. When it remained silent, Gaige abandoned the ECHO and leaned back on her palms.

“This not-Jack has to be an asshole if he works for Jack. But this doesn’t make sense,” she said. “He had a controller for the bots. He had to have sent that bot into the statue to stop it from falling. Plus, he had those digistructs shoot the WAR loader away from you.”

“Maybe he thought I was too hot to die,” Axton said.

“You are, but that’s not the point here,” Gaige said. “Ughhh. I hate mysteries like this. I can’t crack it open and see what’s inside.”

“You could, but I don’t think not-Jack’s insides will give us many answers,” Axton said.

“They’re going to torture him for information. Not Jack-level torture but…I don’t know, it still feels like we’re dropping to Jack’s level,” Gaige said, hugging her knees to her chest. “I’m all for shooting a motherfucker like him, but he saved us and I want to know why.” Her eyes widened a little and she released her knees. “His watch!”

“Are we going to…tell him the time? I’m not following,” Axton said.

Gaige pat his back. “That doesn’t surprise me. Where did they store his stuff?”

“Roland has it in his safe,” Axton said.

He followed Gaige as she leapt to her feet and returned back into headquarters. She sought out Roland, who was leaning against the balcony on the front end of the building.

“Roland! I need not-Jack’s watch,” she said.

“It’s a digistruct watch,” Roland said, looking over his shoulder at her. “We have no idea how the programming on it works. We don’t know if he needs to touch it to activate it, or if his voice would be enough. It’s too dangerous to take it out.”

“What if it could lead us to Jack, though?” Gaige pressed. “Jack probably had something in there to locate not-Jack. We could reverse-track him.”

“We know he’s hiding up on Helios,” Roland said. “There’s no point.”

“But we don’t know that,” Gaige said. “Not-Jack said Jack would be coming after us. Besides, if Jack sends him information through the watch, we could hack into it.”

“Too dangerous,” Roland repeated. “If he activates the watch, we’re in trouble. You can’t just shoot a digistruct.”

“Well, you can, but it’s not very effective,” Axton said, and winced when Gaige dug her elbow into his gut.

“Shut it, you. C’mon, just trust me, Roland,” Gaige insisted.

Roland crossed his arms tightly, finally turning to face her. “And what happens if the digistructs are released?”

“Then we destroy the watch,” Gaige said. “No watch, no digistructs. I know what I’m doing here.”

He thought it over before giving a reluctant nod. “Fine. But it goes right back in the safe when you’re done, and you don’t bring it around the citizens. I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”

Gaige whooped triumphantly and hurried her way to the safe. She got it open and spotted not-Jack’s things. She grabbed the watch, turning it over in her hands. She swiped her finger against it, but no digistructs came forth.

“Come on,” she said, shutting the safe and pulling Axton along.

“Where are we going? I thought you were going to…I don’t know, take it apart or whatever it is you do,” he said in confusion.

“Duh, but first I want to know how it works. If it only responds to not-Jack, we might need him,” she said.

She slowed as they reached the stairs, taking up Axton’s slow pace. He was trying to pretend his leg was fine, but the debris had damaged him pretty badly, and they'd waited so long that the health kits were now slow to heal him.

The two returned to where not-Jack was being held. Brick was sitting just outside not-Jack’s room, and he rolled his shoulders as they approached.

“Well?” he asked.

“Ease off the testosterone, big guy. I need a little longer before you go yanking his arm off again,” Gaige said.

“What are you up to?” Brick asked suspiciously.

“A plan that is fully endorsed by Roland,” Gaige lied. Hey, he’d told her she could have the watch. And she wasn’t bringing it around civilians. “Let us have a few minutes with not-Jack. Then he’s all yours again. Probably.”

Brick opened the door for them and they went into the room. Brick shut the door, thankfully without following them in.

“You miss me already?” not-Jack asked, raising an eyebrow.

Gaige wasted no time and held up his watch. “How’s this thing work? Does it only respond to you?”

She didn’t miss the brief flash of panic across his face before it composed into the lazy, unconcerned amusement he’d been feigning before.

“Give it a swipe and see for yourself,” he said.

She eyed the watch closer. “Not voice activated, then. Can Jack track you through it?”

Not-Jack shrugged. “Don’t know. I doubt he needs to. He probably stuck a tracker in me somewhere. What, worried he’ll figure out I’m on Sanctuary? News flash, kiddo: he knows exactly where I am. It’s pretty hard to hide a floating city.”

Gaige was poking at the watch again, turning it this way and that. “Well, you’re no help. I guess I’ll just crack it open and see for myself.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” he chirped happily. “Unless you want to lose your other arm. It self-destructs if it’s tampered with.”

“Then we’ll tamper with it carefully,” she said, rolling it between her hands. “I’m not afraid of explosions. Come on Axton, let’s go crack this baby open.”

“Wait!” not-Jack said, and now she detected the panic creeping into his voice. “Did you miss the part where I said it would self-destruct? You’ll lose an arm, get no information from it, and I lose a very expensive watch. I don’t see any winners here.”

“What’s life without a little risk?” Gaige said, grinning widely. He was hiding something, and maybe if she taunted him enough, his panic would override his secrecy. “Besides, if it blows up, it’s just one less weapon for you. I see plenty of winning opportunities here.”

She moved swiftly towards the door, her bluff laid before him. She had started turning the handle when he spoke again.

“Don’t…don’t hurt them.” His voice was quiet.

She faced him again. “Them?”

“The…” He swallowed, looking away with anger on his face. The anger seemed to be directed more at his own vulnerability than at her. “They’re not just…”

“Well now I’m even more curious. Spit it out or I’ll pry it out,” she said.

“They’re AIs,” he snapped. “They’re not just…they’re not just mindless digistructs. Not anymore. Don’t hurt them.” He took a slow breath. “It only responds to my touch, and he can’t track me or communicate with me through it. I need my ECHO to connect the watch to for any of that, and I lost my ECHO when you took me.”

“Just your ECHO?” Gaige pressed.

“Any ECHO. It can connect to any ECHO, and the digi-Jacks can communicate with Jack.” He gave out the information reluctantly, still not looking at them. “Just…don’t tamper with it.”

“You said not anymore,” Gaige said, running her finger over the watch again. “What does that mean?”

“When Jack first gave me the watch, they were just battle digistructs. Their AI programming was strictly combat-centered, with a few one-liners programmed in. They weren’t entirely stable, either. They would constantly deconstruct over time and then immediately produce a newer digi-Jack. Jack and I upgraded the watch to be more than that.”

“Summon them,” Gaige said.

“Whoa, hold on, do not summon them,” Axton said in surprise. “Gaige, Roland said-”

“Calm down,” Gaige said, patting his arm. She looked to not-Jack. “If you summon them and they don’t try to harm us, I promise we won’t touch the watch again. I won’t let anyone tamper with it. It’ll stay locked up, safe.”

He laughed bitterly. “And I’m supposed to trust you?”

“You didn’t kill my friend, so I won’t kill yours,” Gaige said simply.

He bit his lip, hard. “You won’t let anyone touch the watch?”

“Not a soul,” she assured. “But only if they don’t attack us. If they do, sure, they kill us. But we leave the watch here until the battery runs dry, and then Brick comes in here and destroys it and they’re gone forever.”

“I’m not on board with this plan,” Axton said.

“Sure you are, don’t be a bitch,” Gaige said, moving towards not-Jack. “Deal?”

“Deal,” he grumbled.

She knelt behind him and grabbed his hand. She swiped the watch against his fingers, and watched as red and blue pixels came forth, the pixels combining to form a badass red Jack and a regular blue Jack.

They looked around and instantly raised their weapons. The red one pointed his at Gaige, and the blue one aimed at Axton.

“Don't shoot,” not-Jack commanded. “Do not shoot them.”

“They’ve got you restrained,” the red one ground out.

“They do?” not-Jack said in surprise, looking down at himself. “Oh my god. Shit. I didn’t even notice. Thank god I have you guys.”

They didn’t lower their weapons, but they didn’t fire them either. Gaige stood up and studied the red one closely.

“Ohh, is this one a badass?” she asked in excitement.

“T-” The blue one paused, cleared his throat. “Jack, can we shoot them now?”

“No,” not-Jack said. “Did I stutter? No, of course I didn’t, I’m Handsome freaking Jack. Stand down.”

The digi-Jacks reluctantly lowered their weapons. They shifted away when Gaige got too close. She reached forward, expecting to wave a hand through the red one only to actually touch him. His body flickered the slightest, and he grunted.

“Can you NOT touch me?” he demanded.

“You’re solid?” she said in confusion. “Oh, man, now I really want to know how this watch works.”

“They’re not solid,” not-Jack said hastily. “It’s more of a defense mechanism when someone gets too close. They gain a temporary ‘mass’ to punch or kick, but it depletes the watch’s battery much faster.”

“Well, I wasn’t going to let her just shove her hands in my body,” the red one said, sounding offended. “I hope the battery does deplete, because I’m uncomfortable right now. What the hell is going on, Jack?”

“I was captured, they wanted to take you guys apart, and I compromised,” not-Jack said. “You’re welcome, by the way.”

The blue one knelt down next to not-Jack. “You, uh, you good? I mean, considering the circumstances.”

“Oh, I’m fantastic. I love being captured by bandits,” not-Jack said. “It’s my favorite. Welcome to the party, guys. Someone will be along shortly to pop your shoulder out of place.”

“Did they hurt you?” the blue one asked, his voice suddenly sharp.

“Ohhh, they get defensive,” Gaige said. She was back to circling the red one, who looked increasingly annoyed.

“We really can’t shoot them?” the red one asked, glaring at Gaige as she tried to touch his shoulder only for her hand to go through it. “Will you cut that out? How would you like having a stranger’s hand inside you?”

He followed this up by jamming his arm through her shoulder. It tingled, but didn’t hurt.

“That’s awesome!” Gaige cried, rubbing her shoulder. “Do it to Axton!”

“Please don’t do it to Axton,” Axton said, inching away. “This is just getting weird now.”

Gaige noticed the blue one was still crouching protectively by not-Jack, searching him for any injuries. She was incredibly curious about how their programming worked, but she’d promised not to tamper with the watch after this. Not-Jack seemed eager to answer her questions to keep her away from experimenting with the watch on her own, anyways.

“How does their AI work?” Gaige asked not-Jack.

“It’s complex,” he said. He turned to the blue one. “Blue, I order you to hop on one foot.”

The blue one stood up with a loud groan and began to hop on one foot. “I hate you. I absolutely hate you.”

“Will you raise your arm over your head while you do it?” not-Jack asked.

“Absolutely not,” the blue one said.

Not-Jack nodded towards the blue one. “See? I can command them to do things, and they can’t disobey. But if it’s not a direct command, they have a sort free will. Complex.” He paused. “Oh, you can quit hopping up and down now. You’re making me dizzy. Sheesh, I’m hungry.”

“They’re starving you?” the blue one asked, shooting a dirty look to the other two.

“No. But they’re not exactly giving me Helios-level feasts,” not-Jack said. “Fucking Jack didn’t give me a chance to eat breakfast before I took off to get kidnapped.”

“Then…they know?” the red one said slowly.

“Oh, we totally know he’s not Jack,” Gaige said. “Although I’m still not sure how Lilith could tell.”

“She’s very familiar with what the real Jack’s face looks like,” not-Jack said grimly. “Mine is just…slightly off.”

Gaige was curious, but the conversation seemed to be enraging the digistructs, so she let it drop. If they weren’t fully controlled by not-Jack, then there was always the chance they could attack her and Axton on their own, regardless of what not-Jack had told them.

“What do you plan to do with him?” the red one demanded, shifting so he stood at not-Jack’s side.

Gaige knew very well what they planned to do with him. They planned to use him to break into the Bunker, and then he would most likely be killed. But they planned to get any information they could out of him first.

“I dunno,” she said dismissively.

“Oh, shit.” Not-Jack laughed and lightly tapped his head against the wall. “I get it now. Shit. You’re all going to die, you know that?”

“What?” the blue one asked. “What’s going on?”

“The Bunker,” not-Jack said, picking his head back up. “They’re going to use me to get into the Bunker. That’s why Lilith keeps asking me about its defenses. Shit, you are the craziest people on Pandora, you know that? You’re going to die.”

“We could live if you tell us the Bunker’s defenses?” Axton tried.

“Don’t know them,” not-Jack said. His eyes found Gaige and his laughter slowly cut off. “I’m telling you, just leave and don’t come back. Or Jack will kill you.”

She didn’t know why he kept warning her about it, but something in his gaze nearly made her shiver. Those bicolored eyes were disconcerting on their own, but to have them staring at her with a look that was part warning and part pleading made it even worse.

Gaige shifted her focus back onto the digi-Jacks. “Nah, we’re not running. Jack is going down.”

“If you go to the Bunker, you’ll die,” not-Jack warned. “Jack will make sure of it.”

“Listen buddy, I could die from eating food but that doesn’t stop me. I could die from fighting bandits, but I’ve got my gun ready to go. Death doesn’t scare me,” Gaige scoffed.

She looked back down at the watch in her hands, still curious about it but too unnerved by not-Jack’s eyes to stay here much longer. She held the watch out towards the three of them.

“Back you go,” she said.

“No,” the blue one growled, moving closer to not-Jack. The red one crossed his arms, looking intimidating as he towered over her.

“What are you going to do with them?” not-Jack said.

“Stick them back where I found them. A deal’s a deal,” Gaige said. She figured once she’d calmed down a little, she’d question him on the watch more. She was too curious about their AI programming to just let this drop. But for now, she wanted to be away from him. It was creepy to have a man who looked exactly like Handsome Jack warn her that Handsome Jack was going to brutally murder her.

“We’re not leaving him,” the blue one said firmly.

“Your battery will run out eventually,” Axton said. “Uh…right, Gaige?”

“Right,” Gaige confirmed. The digi-Jacks still didn’t budge. “Don’t be stubborn, guys. You’re too fascinating for me to destroy.”

“Only Jack can force us back into the watch,” the red one said. “You have no power over us, girl.”

“Order them away, not-Jack,” Gaige said. “I’ve got to get this baby back before Roland finds out I let you summon them.”

“Don’t,” the blue one said to not-Jack. “We can make sure they don’t hurt you. We can-”

“You’ll be destroyed if you fight back,” not-Jack said flatly. “I order both of you back into the watch.”

“If you hurt him, Jack won’t be the only one trying to kill you,” the blue one snarled before disappearing with a flash of blue.

The red one closed his eyes and clenched his fists, also bursting into a flash of light. The watch flashed as they were returned to it, and Gaige pocketed it.

She clapped her hands together. “That was mind-opening and mind-boggling. Let’s go, Axton. And don’t go running your big mouth to Roland or the others about what I just did.”

“Fine, but you owe me,” Axton said, pulling the door open.

They left, Gaige unable to look back at not-Jack. Brick stood up as they shut the door.

“Anything?” he asked.

“Nothing that’ll help us,” Gaige said, shaking her head. “But now we know his watch isn’t a threat as long as he can’t touch it.”

“Hey, send Lilith back here. I want to know what she wants me to do with him,” Brick said.

“Sure thing,” Gaige said, and she and Axton left the building.

“Go and get some rest. I’m going to find Lilith,” Gaige said.

“Alright. Put that damn watch back, though. It freaks me out that they have personalities,” Axton said, giving her a short wave before taking off.

Gaige touched the watch in her pocket. It kind of freaked her out, too. They’d seemed so human, and yet so far from it.

She took off for a walk around Sanctuary to clear her head. She couldn’t stop thinking about not-Jack’s gaze, the emotion in his eyes. He’d been mouthy and rude every time they questioned him, until his digital companions were threatened. Then he became compliant, offering up whatever Gaige asked. Jack would’ve let them destroy the watch in a heartbeat before he gave them anything they wanted. So not-Jack might look and seem like a perfect copy of Handsome Jack, but there were cracks in the façade.

Gaige walked along Sanctuary, fingers brushing against the watch as she moved. She wasn’t sure how to go from here, or what to make of not-Jack. She sighed in frustration and shoved those thoughts aside, focusing only on her walk.

She did not return the watch, and she did not send Lilith to Brick and not-Jack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been really fascinated by the Borderlands AI like Felicity, and the digistructs and the way characters like Zane treat them more like a close friend than a projection. So I'm experimenting with it here, and I hope you like it!


	6. Chapter 6

Tim shifted restlessly. He hated that they knew his watch contained AIs with partial freewill. He hated that he didn’t know where they were keeping the watch, or what they were going to do with it. Gaige had promised not to tamper with it, but he couldn’t trust any of them.

It had no defense mechanism. It wouldn’t explode. The digistructs were trapped inside without him there to release them. There were two ways to release them; either he or Jack swiped the interface, or the summoning protocol was overwritten and they could be released without permission.

He’d tried to give them that second option, but Jack had placed heavy defenses against that area of their programming. He didn’t want the digi-Jacks able to summon themselves, and he didn’t want anyone else to override that protocol. He’d left it in place only in case something happened to Tim. Then, if they weren’t already summoned, Jack could override the protocol and send them to Tim’s side.

Tim paused as he thought that over. Had Jack summoned them when Tim was captured at Opportunity? No, Tim was fairly certain Jack hadn’t. But why? And why hadn’t he summoned them in an attempt to free Tim from Sanctuary?

Most likely it was because he knew that, even if the digi-Jacks freed Tim, getting off Sanctuary would be nearly impossible. If the watch was destroyed, Tim was screwed.

And more than that.

He did not want to lose his friends.

Jack had been against giving them personalities, but Tim slowly and surely planted the idea in his head that it would make them more useful. They could defend him better. They could help him torture, blackmail, or threaten his targets. They could access medical information to help someone treat him if he became unresponsive. They could connect to Jack if something happened to Tim.

And so, slowly, Jack relented and programmed in basic personalities for them. It took more slow and steady convincing on Tim’s end for Jack to allow Tim to go in and give them more advanced ones.

But Jack was strict that he would not allow them full freewill, and Tim agreed to it. They were given some, in case Tim was unconscious or unable to order them around, but they had protection protocols in place, set by Jack.

They could not disobey a direct order from Tim or Jack. Jack’s orders overrode Tim’s, so if Tim said not to shoot someone but Jack ordered them to do it, they would do it. They could not harm Tim or Jack, ever, unless for some reason Jack ordered it. They could not leave the watch of their own will. They could not access their own programming. And they could not transfer their base code out of the watch. They could partially go into Tim’s ECHO, but the watch had to be linked to it, and they couldn’t fully upload themselves into it.

Tim had argued for these changes on the basis that it’d make him a bigger threat to his enemies, but the truth was that he’d gotten lonely.

He hated the people on Helios. Everyone was planning to murder everyone else. When they shook your hand, they judged your strength. When they handed you a cup of coffee, it was safer to dump it in the nearest plant. None of them could be trusted, and none of them knew Timothy Lawrence existed.

No one knew Timothy Lawrence existed. Nisha and Wilhelm knew him only as Jack around others, and not-Jack in private. Jack was the only one allowed to call him by his real name, and generally only did so as if to prove he owned it.

Existing while simultaneously not existing was an exhausting state of being, and Tim craved company that didn’t plot to kill him constantly. And so, long as it took, he was overjoyed when he had his watch companions.

When he was alone, he’d often summon them just for company and conversation. Jack had caught him a few times with them summoned, once going so far as to take the watch away from Tim until he was sent into his next battle.

“Remember that Dahl AI?” Jack had chastised as he took the watch away. “It tried to frickin’ kill you guys, Timmy. Or did you forget?”

Tim had never forgotten Felicity.

Jack had ranted and raved about how he hated AIs, and broken Tim’s fingers when he reached for the watch with apologies coming forth. It wasn’t until his fingers were healed that he was given his watch back, with the warning that Jack would destroy the AIs and give him back the basic digistructs if he kept forgetting their purpose.

So Tim became much more careful over when he summoned them. With no one else around, they became his only friends.

He didn’t want to lose them.

Sure, if the vault hunters destroyed the watch, Jack would surely make him a new one. But even replicating the programming and codes, they would be different. They wouldn’t have the memories that these two had. The new digistructs would be strangers, and his friends would be dead.

Tim gave a savage yank of the chains, gritting his teeth as the pain pulled his thoughts from spiraling much deeper down that rabbit hole. There was nothing he could do. He just had to hope Gaige kept her word on them.

He had no sense of time, and his thoughts were driving him crazy, and so he closed his eyes and tried to sleep. He drifted in and out of consciousness.

Tim was abruptly woken when someone kicked him in the thigh. He shook his head a little and looked up, blinking the sleep from his eyes.

“I don’t know anything about the Bunker, other than that you’re going to use me to break in,” he said as he looked up at Roland and Lilith.

“You told Gaige and Axton they would die,” Roland said, crossing his arms.

“Because they will. Jack’s got something important in the Bunker, that’s all I know. And Jack doesn’t leave his possessions unguarded,” Tim said. “Seriously, the guy would set up 3 turrets and a Constructor to keep you away from his lunch.”

They already had one of his favorite possessions. They wouldn’t get their hands on another.

Tim paused, fighting to keep his expression the same as a thought hit him. What if Jack guessed what they were doing with Tim? What if he was waiting for them to leave Sanctuary with him, so Jack could get Tim back and kill the vault hunters before they reached the Bunker?

Roland and Lilith shared a look. “Do you know what’s at the Bunker?” Roland asked.

Tim did not, and so he shrugged. Something important. Jack never told anyone what was there, though. He brought Tim there with him before, but never inside. He’d made Tim wait outside while he dealt with whatever was hidden within.

Tim could only assume it was where Jack was charging his vault key. It would explain why he was so secretive and protective over it, and why the vault hunters were trying so hard to get in.

Even if they broke through the defenses, though, Jack had a Siren charging his vault key. If that’s really where he was keeping it hidden, that meant his Siren was there, too. Tim could only assume whoever she was, Jack had full control over her, and would use her powers as a final line of defense if the Bunker was breached.

“You’re all crazy if you think you can beat Jack,” Tim said. He’d seen so many try and fail. “Maybe I can’t tell you much about the Bunker, but I can tell you that.”

Lilith looked angry, but Roland just shook his head at her. “You know more than you’re letting on,” Roland said to Tim.

“I’m his double, not his best friend,” Tim said. “Sorry, champ. I know how to act like him. Doesn’t mean I have his knowledge.”

“What information does he have on the vault hunters and the Crimson Raiders?” Roland demanded.

Tim couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of that. “If he’d told me all of that, do you really think I would’ve let myself be captured by the vault hunters and put in this shitty situation? Do you think I like being kidnapped by the people who want to kill the man whose face I’m wearing?”

“So you’re trying to claim you don’t know anything at all? I find that hard to believe,” Lilith said.

“I know enough to fool assassins. I know enough to fool the people I walk past on Helios. I just need to walk right, and say some condescending things to pass as Jack. He likes to be the only one who knows everything. He isn’t keen on sharing,” Tim said. “You’re just wasting your time interrogating me.”

“I don’t buy it, Roland,” Lilith said.

Roland was eyeing Tim carefully, looking for the cracks in his façade. He wouldn’t find any. Tim had spent years perfecting his expression to look like Jack’s.

“I’ll leave him to you. I’ve got to meet with the vault hunters,” Roland said.

Tim watched them both leave, and wondered how long it would be before they tried using him to get into the Bunker. Was he just going to sit here forever? Were they waiting for him to get blood clots and die?

A few minutes later, he heard angry voices. He leaned forward as far as he could, straining to hear what was being said.

“-not doing this, Lil. It’s not us.” Brick’s voice.

“Jack is going to wake the Warrior at this rate, Brick! We have one of his men here. He knows more than he’s telling us. We need that information.”

“I’m all for roughing the guy up, but I’m not torturing anyone. That’s what Jack would do, and we’re not Jack.”

“We need to know what he knows. We need to know what’s waiting for us at the Bunker.”

“Then do the dirty work yourself. I’ll pop his arm out of place, hit him a few times. I’m not going to start cutting his limbs off. That’s not who we are. We’re better than Jack.”

“I know.” Lilith sounded defeated. “Fine, we keep it as a last resort tactic. But we need to find a way to make him talk.”

Their voices were quieting again as their anger subsided, and Tim couldn’t hear anything else. Well, torture wasn’t totally off the table, but at least he had some time before they resorted to it.

So he sat alone and he tried to distract himself. He mentally ran through the lines of one of the productions he’d been in, back when he had his own face and was just a small-time actor. He closed his eyes and visualized the set, letting his mind recreate the production to keep his other thoughts at bay.

He kept up this trick for a while, until he grew tired of thinking. He dozed for a little, but did not fall into a real sleep. He sang quietly, until singing made him want a drink.

He lost track of how long it was until the door opened again. Gaige came in with a can in one hand and a water bottle in the other.

“What’s on the menu for today?” Tim asked as she walked over to him.

“Canned shit,” she said.

“Well,” he said. “I knew you were all barbaric, but-”

“Shut it or I go feed it to the skags.” She sat in front of him and pried the lid off the can with a knife. She fed him, the same as Axton had done. It was degrading to be fed by his captors, but he was too hungry to let himself be embarrassed.

Once he’d finished, she held the water bottle to his lips and let him drink until he was content. She set it down and produced the watch from her pocket.

“You said you were going to lock it up,” Tim said, narrowing his eyes at her. Had she been tampering with it?

“But this thing is so cool!” she said, and stole a quick glance at the door before moving forward. She ran his fingers over the interface and with a flash of blue and red light, the digi-Jacks appeared.

“Stand down,” Tim ordered immediately as they raised their weapons.

The blue one crouched in front of the can and screwed up his face in disgust. “You’re actually eating this shit?”

“You don’t even know what it tastes like,” Tim said.

“It tastes like shit. You always say it does when you eat it on missions,” he said.

When he gave them their personalities, he offered to let them pick their own names. Neither had been prepared for that, and both had seemed confused by the idea of individual identities. After all, Tim had only ever called them Jacks, or red and blue.

They’d thought it over, and the red one said he did not want to be Jack but he did not know who else to be. He settled for the nickname Jay. The blue one had no interest in names, and told Tim to just stick with Blue.

“Ugh, they’re just so freaking cool,” Gaige said, reaching out and poking Jay.

He kicked her hand away from his leg. “Will you stop touching me?”

“No,” Gaige said simply, and poked him again. “I can’t believe they have mass. How did you program that in? And their personalities. How’d you make them so human?”

“If you want to know about programming and code, you kidnapped the wrong Jack,” Tim said. He’d helped, sure, but he wouldn’t have been able to do it without Jack. Though he'd certainly learned a lot along the way.

“So how does their combat work? Can they use digital weapons?” Her eyes glowed as she leaned forward.

Tim shook his head. “Just the wrist lasers and those brief physical attacks. I can also program in a shotgun modification, but they prefer the lasers.”

“Why are you telling her all this?” Blue demanded.

“So she doesn’t mess with your programming trying to get the answers herself,” Tim said.

“Deal’s a deal,” Gaige said, running her hand through Jay’s legs. He’d given up on making himself solid, and instead just kept kicking his foot harmlessly through her neck in an attempt to get her away from himself.

It felt good to see them and to know they were still safe. He rarely ever took his watch off, and being without it for so long was driving him crazy.

Judging by the looks Blue kept giving him, it wasn’t any easier on the two of them. They’d been designed to protect him, and being kept apart meant they couldn’t do that. They were powerless to act.

“Does Jack use them too? Does he have his own?” Gaige appeared to be full of questions.

“No and no,” Tim said.

Gaige opened her mouth but then paused, eyes widening. “Back in the watch. Now.”

Her tone was urgent, and Tim didn’t hesitate. “I order you to get back in the watch.”

Just a few seconds after they disappeared, the door opened. Gaige casually hid the watch in her pocket.

“Gaige, leave,” Lilith said.

Gaige peeked behind her. “Oh, no way, you’ve got me way too curious now.”

Tim also tried to peer around Lilith, but he couldn’t see who was behind her. They weren’t going to torture him yet, so what was their next play?

His face paled a little as Lilith stepped aside. Oh, dammit, torture was preferable right now.

“Well, look at you, sugar,” Moxxi said as she entered the room, eyeing him up and down. “Who knew you’d look so good all bound up like that.”

Tim grit his teeth. “You’re hot but you tried to freaking kill me. I didn’t forget about that.”

“I was trying to kill Jack. You just happened to be there,” Moxxi said. She knelt in front of him, cupping his cheek in her hand, leaning forward, her smile taunting. “You don’t really want to work for someone like him do you, handsome?”

“You are just so goddamn hot.” Tim laughed nervously and tried to pull away from her. “Okay, okay, no, you tried to kill me. Tried to…kill me. Right. Almost died.”

She tugged his face closer to hers. “Come on, sugar. Let me help you.”

_“See, Timmy, you can’t trust any of them.”_

Jack’s words entered his mind, and he yanked his face out of her grasp, that savage Jack-grin coming to his face. “Help me? You mean use me. A pretty face won’t get answers out of me, sweetheart.”

They were all just manipulating him. They would get answers out of him and then kill him when he served no purpose to them anymore. He couldn’t trust any of them.

Only Jack had kept his word to Tim.

“I’ve got nothing to say to any of you,” Tim said, grin still on his face but voice cold and hard. “You want to attack the Bunker? Go for it. The skags will love your corpses. You’ll never beat me.”

“You’re just playing hard to get now,” Moxxi whispered, leaning closer.

Tim flashed his teeth at her in a warning grin. “I can have any whore I want. What makes you think you’re so special?”

She was not bothered by his words, instead standing up and crossing her arms. “He’s no fun anymore, Lil. Jack got to him.”

Oh, she had no idea.

Lilith looked irritated at the failed plan. “At this rate we’ll just lock him in the room with Claptrap for a few days.”

“I helped kill that idiotic robot once. You think I won’t do it again?” Tim said.

“I’m not sure anyone would stop you,” Gaige said.

“How could you be loyal to Jack? After everything he’s done?” Lilith asked.

They would never understand it. Sometimes Tim himself didn’t understand these moments where Timothy Lawrence disappeared and only Handsome Jack remained.

He just gazed up at her. She shook her head.

“You’re as sick as him,” she said. “Come on, Gaige.”

Gaige held up the water bottle. “Not done feeding the asshole yet. I’ll be out in a little.”

Lilith and Moxxi left. Tim closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. There was a time he never would’ve called a woman a whore. He would’ve happily accepted her advances, too naïve to understand they weren’t genuine.

No longer, though. He wasn’t who she had met on Elpis.

He flinched as water hit his face. Gaige splashed a little more on him as he glared.

“You with me, dude?” she said.

“You’re sitting right next to me. You could’ve just shaken my arm or something,” he said.

She splashed him again. “Yea, I could’ve.”

She slipped the watch back out from her pocket and ran it over his fingers. Red and blue emitted and took shape, though they lowered their weapons once they realized it was just Tim and Gaige.

“What happened?” Blue demanded. “Why did we need to go back in the watch?”

“And why the hell is there water on your face, Jack?” Jay asked.

“They tried to seduce him,” Gaige said.

“They…what?” Blue clearly hadn’t been expecting that.

“Seduce means they tried to-” Jay didn’t get to finish before Blue cut him off.

“I know what seduce means!” he said impatiently.

“Moxxi,” Tim explained. “I forgot she was hiding up on Sanctuary.”

He wondered about the others. What had become of Janey Springs? Where had Athena and Aurelia gone?

“Hold on, Moxxi seduced you?” Blue looked more confused by the moment.

“She tried,” Tim said with a bitter grin. “Didn’t work.”

“That’s…surprising,” Jay said.

“Oh, shut up,” Tim said, trying to kick him, only for his foot to go through Jay’s ankle. “Solidify and take my kick like a man.”

Gaige was watching them all interact, her expression one of concentration and thoughtfulness. Tim wondered what she was thinking.

He didn’t get a chance to ask her. They heard footsteps coming again, and Blue gestured at Jay. The two pressed themselves against the wall next to the door, shooting Tim a pleading look.

Tim glared. “You do not let anyone see you, and you don’t attack or threaten anyone,” he hissed.

They nodded and a moment later, the door swung open, blocking them from Lilith’s and Brick’s sight as they entered. They moved to Tim, and Lilith pointed a gun at him, nodding at Brick.

“What’s going on?” Gaige asked in surprise.

They didn’t answer. Brick knelt down and began undoing Tim’s restraints. Tim could see the digi-Jacks watching him from behind the door, both anxiously watching and playing with their weapons. They couldn’t disobey his direct orders, though.

Brick unchained him and hauled him to his feet. His wrists were still tightly bound, but Brick had freed his feet. He produced a black cloth sack, and promptly pulled it over Tim’s head.

“And it’s like I’m being kidnapped all over again,” Tim sighed. “If this is some weird foreplay to let Moxxi have another shot, it’s not going to work, kiddo.”

“Get moving,” Brick said, grabbing his arm and pushing him forward. He kept a hand on Tim’s arm, guiding him forward.

Tim could hear three sets of footsteps following him, meaning Gaige was with them. Jay and Blue would certainly be following, and Tim wished he had ordered them back into the watch. It was too late now though, and he’d just have to trust they’d hide themselves away in it to prevent being seen.

He heard more doors opening and shutting, and soon the ground he walked on was different. They were outside, he was sure of that. He could feel a gust of wind hitting him, and the fresh air was a relief after so long of being locked in the same windowless room.

They walked him along for a little while before stopping. Brick yanked him to a sudden stop and held onto his arm.

“Well?” Lilith said.

“We’ve made sure the area is clear,” Maya’s voice said.

“What are you guys up to?” Gaige asked.

The bindings on his wrists were removed, the sack was taken off his head, and Tim took a moment to adjust his eyes to the sudden light. When they did adjust, he paled and tried to back up.

Being inside that room made him forget about Sanctuary’s current location. But now, it was right in front of him.

They were so high up.

Jack had never been able to rid him of his fear. In fact, his attempts only made Tim even more fearful of heights. Being dangled, dropped, and flung made him more afraid than ever of being high up, because all Jack had managed to do was condition him that being high up meant falling down. He could not even look out of the windows of Helios without his heart rate soaring.

“Moxxi was right,” Lilith said, sounding almost impressed. “He is afraid of heights.”

Brick pulled him forward and held him tightly, pushing him right up to the edge. Tim stared below in terror, any protests drying in his throat.

The edge he was standing on was jagged, messily broken off when Sanctuary ascended into the sky. The surrounding area was equally crumbled and disorganized, and there were no people around. The clouds obstructed some of his view, but he could just make out Pandora far below. Sweat dripped down his neck and he squeezed his eyes shut as nausea rolled in his stomach.

He couldn’t hide his fear. Maybe in the past he could’ve managed it, but not after all of Jack’s attempts to “cure” him.

“Maya,” Lilith said, and Tim heard someone moving towards him. “Maybe now you’ll cooperate.”

He opened his mouth, but all that came out was a yell as he was shoved off the edge. Before he could start falling, he felt himself being ensnared by the Siren’s power, and he hung in the air.

It was so far down. So far down so far down so far down.

“Please!” he wheezed, palms slick with sweat and whole body trembling. His heart was beating so hard that it hurt his chest, and his breathing was becoming erratic. “Please,” he choked out again as he started hyperventilating.

And he-

And he-

And he wanted Jack.

He squeezed his eyes shut, wishing Jack would come for him and kill these vault hunters. Jack always saved him. When people like this came after Tim, Jack saved him.

He pictured Jack’s face, and heard his own voice choke out, “Help me. Please.”

“ENOUGH.”

The voice was loud and angry, but it wasn’t Jack’s.

Tim couldn’t open his eyes. He couldn’t see that sight again. He’d lose his goddamn mind if he had to see the distance between him and the ground.

But then he felt the Siren’s power no longer surrounding him, and he cried out in terror as he fell from the air.

He hit the ground hard, the breath knocked out of him. He opened his eyes, digging his fingers against the ground until they bled. He breathed in air and dry heaved it out, unable to calm himself.

He pressed his forehead against the ground until his skull throbbed, just letting himself feel the ground beneath him. His heart hammered wildly, and he knew his composure was long gone.

He flinched when a hand rested on his back. He scrambled away, panting heavily as he curled up.

“Don’t,” he whispered. “Don’t do it again. Please.”

“It’s okay, not-Jack,” Gaige said, hand still hanging in the air from where his back had been moments before. “Chill out. You’re on the ground.”

He couldn’t “chill out” though. He dug his nails into his arms, trying to gain some semblance of control. As his eyes darted around for something to focus on, he saw red and blue.

They lingered just out of sight of the others, hidden but watching him with fury and concern. He swallowed hard and slowly shook his head at them. They couldn’t be seen. What if the vault hunters threw the watch off Sanctuary?

That thought sent another jolt of horror through his body. He tried to focus on his breathing, counting in his head to calm himself.

“Now will you talk?” Lilith asked.

“Fuck…you…” Tim gasped out.

He would not tell them anything. Jack would come to save him, and he would shove all of them off the goddamn edge they’d dangled him from.

“Don’t,” Gaige warned as Maya and Lilith shared a look. “Just lock him back up.”

“Gaige, none of us like this. But he’s our best chance at getting information about Jack, and about the security at the Bunker. We need that,” Lilith said, but even she looked hesitant.

Gaige pointed at Tim. “Look at him. When we met those people in Overlook, that’s what they were like. Stuttering and terrified. Because of Jack. Because of what Jack did to them. We just did that to someone, Lilith.” She stood up and stormed over to Brick, snatching something from him. She approached Tim, holding up the bindings for him to see. “I’m tying you back up, but you’re going back in the room.”

He shot a look at Maya, who wouldn’t meet his gaze, her expression troubled. Gaige knelt before him and took his hands, starting to restrain them behind him again.

“Try to fight back and I’ll kick you right between the legs, asshole,” Gaige said without much threat in her voice. Tim did not fight back.

There was no point in fighting back. If he did, they would just throw him over. He couldn’t imagine a worse fate than plummeting to his death from Sanctuary. He dug his nails into his palms, trying to ground himself.

Gaige hauled him to his feet and took the cloth sack from Brick. Tim struggled away from it. What if they blinded him and then suspended him off the edge again?

“Relax, you’re going back to the other room,” Gaige said. She gripped his jaw and turned his head, and he caught that flash or red and blue again.

They both looked like they wanted nothing more than to slaughter everyone there. But they were under his orders, and so they just watched him with agonized expressions.

“Come on,” Gaige mumbled, turning his head back to look at her. He allowed her to put the cloth sack over his face this time.

He was furious and terrified and desperate. They’d found his biggest weakness. They’d dangled him over Pandora. He hated that they’d seen him so weak. If Jack knew, there’d be no calming his rage. He’d try to “cure” Tim’s fear again, but not before making the vault hunters pay for what they’d just done.

Tim focused on his footsteps to calm himself. Left foot, right foot, left, right, left, right. They walked in a slow manner, Gaige’s hand on his arm to guide him forward.

Enough.

That’s what she’d yelled at them. Why had she stopped them?

He heard those heavy doors opening again and the ground changed beneath his feet. He was pushed against the wall and Gaige pressed on his shoulders until he sat. She chained him back up after restraining his ankles. She took the cloth sack off his head.

She turned her body so the others couldn’t see, flashing a peek of the watch to him before hiding it and following them out. Tim hung his head, staring at his own feet on the ground. Would she come back and let him see Jay and Blue?

He couldn’t stop seeing that dizzying view below him, that horrifying uncertainty. Would Maya drop him? On purpose? On accident? Would they leave him hanging there until he went mad? Pry every answer they wanted out of him and then let him plummet below, helpless and screaming?

His breathing hitched again and Tim felt the tremors rock his body. He couldn’t get the sight of Pandora so far below him out of his mind. The floor seemed to melt away and he was falling, his stomach shooting up into his throat and his vision blurring.

Alone and chained up, Tim let out dry sobs as panic steadily consumed his body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been working really hard on this story, so definitely expect steady updates! There's still quite a ways to go! And as always, any feedback is appreciated ^-^


	7. Chapter 7

“What the hell is wrong with you guys?!”

Gaige was furious, and she stomped her foot on the ground because it was rude to punch her friends. Lilith opened her mouth, but closed it instead of offering her earlier defense.

“Maybe we did take it too far.” Maya worried at her lip. “Let’s not do that again.”

“I’ll leave his interrogation to Roland from now on,” Lilith said at last. “But we need to be careful. He keeps saying we’ll die if we go to the Bunker. He knows something.”

“Son of a bitch!” Gaige cursed and stomped her foot again. “I’m going to see if he’s still freaking out. That was a Jack thing to do, and Jack’s a son of a bitch.” She let out a frustrated noise. “Fuck. Shit. I’m going.”

No one tried to stop her, which made her even angrier because she wanted to pick a fight. This didn’t sit right with her.

“_Jack_.”

He’d been mouthing the name, over and over again, like a plead for mercy or a call for help. When he begged for help, she broke down.

She shouldn’t feel bad for him. He wore Jack’s face, Jack’s attitude. He worked for Handsome Jack. And he had to be loyal to Jack if he refused to help give them any information.

And yet, he’d looked so vulnerable. The expression on his face did not fit. It was the expression of someone who had once been their own person, with a name and a life. Not Handsome Jack’s body double, but a real person.

“Shit,” she groaned as she reached the building. She touched the watch in her pocket before going inside.

Mordecai was sitting outside the door, and he looked up at the sound of her footsteps. He stood up, looking concerned.

“Gaige, Brick told me what happened. Did it really get that bad?” he asked.

For as angry as Mordecai was about the death of Bloodwing and not-Jack’s taunts, he wasn’t the type of person to enjoy the sort of thing they’d just done. Gaige just pointed towards the building’s exit.

“I’ll let you know when I’m done,” she said.

He hesitated before nodding and leaving. She waited until he was gone before going into not-Jack’s room.

Not-Jack sat quietly on the floor. He looked up at the sound of the door, expression vicious and savage, ready to tear whoever was entering apart.

But when he saw it was her, he slowly dropped the expression and just looked away. He looked mad, but she was sure he had to be embarrassed about the state he’d been in. That kind of vulnerability surely wasn’t allowed by Handsome Jack.

Gaige took the watch from her pocket, holding it out so he could see it as she moved closer to him. He tensed up as she knelt beside him, but she simply swiped his fingers across the watch and stepped back as the digi-Jacks emerged.

The blue one pointed his weapon at her face. The red one had moved to stand between her and not-Jack, also raising his weapon.

“Stand down,” not-Jack said.

“Stand down?” the blue one fumed, even as his hand dropped reluctantly to his side. “We saw what they did to you!”

The red one knelt beside not-Jack and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay? We had to go back into the watch to avoid being seen when they started taking you away. Did they do anything else to you?”

“No,” not-Jack said, and now he just sounded exhausted.

“You bitch,” the blue one snarled at Gaige. “I can’t wait to kill every single one of you.”

“She called them off,” not-Jack said, surprising her. “Stand down, Blue.”

“I’ve never seen anyone that afraid of heights,” she said. “I found out that Moxxi told Lilith you were scared of them. But she didn’t say you were that scared of them.”

“Because I wasn’t when I met her,” he said bitterly, a dark grin twisting his lips.

“Dammit,” the red one cursed quietly. “Goddammit.”

Not-Jack ignored that and looked up at Gaige. “Why did you stop them?”

“Because it wasn’t right,” she said simply.

He seemed surprised by that answer and laughed, pressing his head back against the wall. “Because it wasn’t right,” he echoed. “Fuck, kid, how long have you been on Pandora?”

Gaige crossed her arms. “Being on Pandora isn’t an excuse to become a monster.”

He let out another humorless laugh. “No, I guess there isn’t an excuse for that.”

“What made you so afraid of heights?” Gaige asked, sitting crossed-legged in front of him.

“Jack,” he said. “He tried to, ah, help me with my fear. Didn’t work.”

“Help you?” The blue one sounded outraged. He clenched and unclenched his fists, shaking his head.

“How did he…help you?” Gaige asked. She wanted to know what could’ve possibly made him react like that.

Not-Jack gave a hollow smile. “He just used some exposure therapy.”

“I’ll tell you what he did,” the blue one snapped. “Jack would have loaders dangle him from the air, sometimes even drop him. Jack would tie a rope to him and leave him dangling off a cliff for hours. Sometimes even over a day. Jack would-”

“Enough!” not-Jack said, his voice angry but his face pale. He smoothed out his expression and leaned back casually. “Like I said. Exposure therapy. Unsuccessful.”

“I think the word you’re looking for is ‘torture’,” Gaige said.

The blue one gestured to her. “I really didn’t think I’d agree with anything the vault hunters would say, but here we are.”

Not-Jack ignored that. He instead nodded to the water bottle Gaige had left abandoned earlier.

“I’m thirsty, kiddo,” he said.

She picked the bottle up and let him drink the rest of it, then whacked him in the head with it when it was empty. “You’re the prisoner here, asshole.”

“I guess I deserved that,” not-Jack grumbled.

“Oh, you totally did,” Gaige said. “Bitch.”

“Language, kiddo,” he said.

“Fuck you, bitch,” Gaige said.

“I’m glad you’re making friends and all, but are we just going to ignore the fact that they dangled you over Pandora like a damn pinata?” the blue one demanded.

“I was trying to ignore it because I really didn’t want to think about it, Blue,” not-Jack hissed. “Shut up and let her go back to calling me a bitch.”

“What if they do it again?” the red one asked, putting his hand back on not-Jack’s shoulder. “You ordered us not to be seen and not to attack anyone. We couldn’t help you because of your own orders. T-” He paused, spoke again, “Jack, we could’ve helped.”

That was the second time they’d started to say something with a “T” only to stop and call him Jack. Did his real name start with T?

Gaige didn’t know why she was so curious. Maybe because if she had a name for him, she could stop thinking of him entirely as Handsome Jack.

“You would’ve killed a few of them, and then they would’ve destroyed the watch and you’d be dead, Jay,” not-Jack said, looking at the red digi-Jack. “Hell, they might’ve thrown us both off of Sanctuary. Not trying to plummet to my death, champ.”

“Wait, wait, Jay?” Gaige said, leaning forward. “Do they have names?”

“Yes, we have names,” the red one, Jay, said, sounding angrily offended. “Just like you, and like…Jack.” He gestured to not-Jack.

“What’s his name?” Gaige asked, pointing to the blue one.

“Blue,” the blue one said.

“No, really,” Gaige pressed.

“No, really,” he echoed back, crossing his arms. “I’m called Blue.”

“Laaaaame,” Gaige said.

“Oh, and what’s your name?” the red one said.

“Gaige,” she said. “Not lame. Jay, Blue, Gaige, and…?”

“Jack,” not-Jack said, and he sounded too sure of himself for her comfort. The digi-Jacks looked away, just a subtle shift of the eyes that Gaige barely managed to notice.

“Okay, but before you were Jack, what was your name?” she pressed.

“Doesn’t matter. That personally legally doesn’t exist,” he said. “I’m Jack.”

“Why did you become his body double? Did him being a psychopath not make you reconsider?” Gaige asked.

“He was just a programmer when I took the job,” not-Jack said. “He wanted a body double, I had student loans. It was supposed to be an easy gig, but the next thing I knew, I was being shot out of a moonshot cannon to the freaking moon. And now, here we are.” He let his attention wander to one of the digi-Jacks. “Enough about me. I’m Jack, and that’s all you need to know.”

“Jack wouldn’t have saved me and Axton,” she said.

That grin came to his face. “No. Jack wouldn’t have.”

“So why are we still alive?” she asked.

He went quiet. She watched him, and realized he put up much less of the Jack façade around her than he did around the others, or when she was with them. Interesting.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said at last. “I did, and now Jack is going to kill all of you. You should leave before they go to the Bunker. If you like being alive, that is.”

Gaige stared at him before pulling out her ECHO. She played with it for a moment before setting it between them.

“Angel,” she said, and that caught not-Jack’s attention. “Has not-Jack here ever been to the Bunker?”

“Yes,” Angel’s voice replied. “Though never- where you’re trying to get to.”

“So you do know what’s there,” Gaige said.

“Angel?” Not-Jack seemed lost, and he looked to Jay and Blue for help. They seemed as caught off-guard as him, though. “That’s…She’s…You work for Jack?” He sounded unsure, and cleared his throat, expression going dark. “You betrayed him. You’re working with the vault hunters.”

So Jack really didn’t know Angel was betraying him. That was good to know.

“Jack is a monster,” Angel said, voice fierce. “The fact that you can’t see that after all he’s done to you baffles me.”

“What the hell do you know?” not-Jack spat.

“More than you,” Angel said. “I have to go, Gaige. Goodbye.”

The ECHO went quiet and Gaige pulled it back to her lap. She looked at not-Jack, remembering what Angel said last time about the assassination attempts.

“Has anyone actually tried to kill you thinking you were Jack?” she asked.

“Listen kiddo, a lot of people want Handsome Jack dead. A lot of them don’t realize surgically altered body doubles are a thing,” he said.

“That’s his way of saying ‘Yes, many traumatizing times’,” Jay translated.

“So, what, Jack has a bunch of you lined up in case one of them finally knocks you out of service?” Gaige said. “Harsh, dude.”

“No,” not-Jack said. “I’m not disposable to him.”

“Everyone is,” Gaige heard Blue grumble under his breath.

“You’re telling me he’d care if you got shot or poisoned or something?” Gaige pressed, needing to hear him confirm what Angel had told her and Axton.

“Yes,” he said, voice sure. “I was poisoned not that long ago, and he jammed health kits into me to keep me alive until the medical team arrived. When I was shot in the stomach, he kept me from bleeding out, even though it put him in possible view of the sniper. He’s saved me multiple times.”

He sounded so certain and so loyal. Gaige’s heart sank a little. Angel was right; Jack had manipulated this man into thinking he cared for him. It sounded like fear and even torture played a role in all of this, but those moments of Jack making it seem like this man was important and irreplaceable had seemingly earned not-Jack’s loyalty towards him, sick as he was.

Gaige had seen people on Pandora keep skags as pets. They lured them in with food to earn their trust, then beat them into submission. But they kept feeding them, sheltering them, keeping them alive. It made the skags loyal yet afraid, broken pets but pets all the same.

That’s what the man in front of her was.

She felt sick, and played with the ECHO in her lap for a distraction. It didn’t matter how much Jack hurt this man, as long as not-Jack equated Jack with survival and companionship.

“We’re going to stop him,” Gaige said, finally looking back at not-Jack. “Kill him. Where does that leave you?”

The digi-Jacks both snarled and glared at her, though they didn’t raise their weapons. Not-Jack didn’t seem bothered by her words.

“You won’t beat him,” not-Jack said. “He’ll wake the Warrior. That’ll be the end of all of you. You’re better off getting the hell off Pandora while you have the chance, kid.”

“You keep telling me to leave,” Gaige said. “I’m not going to run like a little bitch. I’m going to stay and fight. I’m going to help my friends take down Jack.”

Not-Jack hesitated a moment before speaking slowly. “I’ve seen what he does to people who have never even wronged him. Kids, your age. Injected with slag. I’ve seen them choke on their own pleads for help. I’ve watched their bodies spasm and their eyes roll back into their heads and the life leave their bodies. Imagine what he’d do to someone he really hated.”

She didn’t want to imagine it. She wanted to imagine Handsome Jack dead, and all her friends safe and victorious.

“We took down a lot of his forces already. We’ll take that coward down too, in the end,” Gaige said confidently.

Not-Jack barked a laugh. “Yea, Nisha and Wilhelm. He’s pretty pissed you killed his girlfriend.”

“The Lynchwood mayor?” Gaige said. “She was a bitch. And that Wilhelm guy was mega creepy.”

“No denying any of that,” not-Jack mumbled.

“Don’t go feeling sorry for them,” Blue said, kicking not-Jack’s knee.

“I’m not,” not-Jack said, tugging on the restraints in an attempt to kick him back. “Nisha was as nuts as Jack. And always flirting with me. Wilhelm wasn’t…so bad? For Jack’s people, anyways.”

Gaige couldn’t imagine living around “Jack’s people”. Jack himself was batshit crazy. Anyone normal would stay far away from him.

“Why didn’t you ever leave?” Gaige asked.

“What?” not-Jack said in confusion.

“You said he was just a programmer when you took the job. When he became this sick fuck of a man, why didn’t you leave?” she pressed.

“Because…I was under contract?” He didn’t sound sure of his own answer. “He could shoot my mother and legally I still have to be him.”

Gaige wasn’t satisfied with that answer, and stood up. He’d calmed down from his earlier panic attack, and she overall felt less bad about what they’d done to him.

“Come on,” she said to the digi-Jacks. “Time to get going.”

“You can’t-” Blue started, then looked frustrated as he stared at the watch in her hands.

“Let us stay until the battery runs out,” Jay said.

“Nope,” Gaige said, dangling the watch between her fingers and swinging it back and forth. “You’ve had your time here.”

“You tortured him!” Jay snapped, moving his body in front of not-Jack protectively. Blue came to stand at his side. “You all claim you hate Jack because he’s so horrible, but your group doesn’t seem to be any better.”

“And we couldn’t do anything, because he knew if your people saw us, they would destroy us,” Blue said.

Gaige did not like how accurate those statements were. She looked at the screen on the watch, but pouted at the amount of time they had left outside of it. Apparently being idle from battle meant they could stick around for quite some time.

“I let you see him. I could’ve just not bothered coming here,” she argued. “I need to leave. Which means you need to get back in the watch.”

“Don’t,” not-Jack warned the digistructs before they could argue with her further. A silent look passed between the three, and the digistructs both reluctantly nodded.

The two disappeared into the watch after another look at not-Jack. He slumped against the wall, and Gaige moved for the door.

“Uh…thanks.”

His voice was so quiet, so unlike Jack’s, that Gaige paused. She looked back at him, but he had tipped his head back and closed his eyes.

She left the room, the watch safely back in her pocket. As she exited the building, Mordecai nodded to her and went back to guard the door. He didn’t question her, and she was grateful for that.

She sought out Axton, having to search around until she finally found him taking practice shots in Marcus’s training room. She closed the door so Marcus wouldn’t overhear them.

“I heard about what they did to not-Jack,” Axton said, lowering his gun to give her his full attention. “Harsh.”

“Yea, harsh,” she said, sitting with her back against the wall. “Axton, about what Angel said…Jack has this guy beaten into submission like a skag. But he wasn’t always just another version of Jack. He was someone before he was Jack.”

“We were all someone else at one point,” Axton said, reaching up to play with the ring he wore on the chain around his neck.

“Wow, that was deep for you,” Gaige said.

He furrowed his brow. “I can be deep.”

“Don’t hurt yourself thinking too hard, big guy,” she said. “Anyways, what I mean, is that what if being apart from Jack could, I don’t know, help him? We’re planning to use him and then just, what, dispose of him? He’s a person. He looks like Jack, he acts like Jack, he talks like Jack, but he’s not Jack. Maybe we can get back whoever he was.”

She hadn’t realized she was going to say all of that until it left her mouth. But now that it was out there, she dropped her gaze to her feet and thought it over.

He’d talked about seeing kids her age die in horrible ways. What if that was why he wanted her to flee?

If he felt guilt over what he’d seen, then there was a spark of hope that Jack hadn’t completely warped this man.

“Gaige, I don’t think we really have enough time to, uh, play therapist,” Axton said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Jack isn’t going to wait for us to break through to this guy. He’s charging the vault key with or without the double.”

“I know that. But we have to try,” Gaige said, clenching a fist. Now that the idea was in her head, it felt right.

“Uh…okay,” Axton said, still looking unsure about it. “Definitely nothing that can backfire with this plan.”

Gaige got to her feet and took the gun from Axton. She aimed at the target and fired off several shots, just to get the restless energy out of her body.

“Grab your turret,” she said, pushing the gun back into his hands.

“I’ve always got her with me,” Axton scoffed.

“I’m getting DT. We’re going to Pandora,” she said.

“For?” Axton said.

“For some stress relief. Let’s go take out those bandits snooping around the old Sanctuary site,” she said.

“Alright, now we’re talking!” he cheered, limping after her.

This new idea to save not-Jack had her feeling restless. But it also felt right, and so she would try. He was trying to keep her away from Jack. Maybe she could do the same for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this might be an odd question, but would you guys prefer if I update every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, or would that be too fast and you'd prefer the usual Monday/Friday schedule? Please let me know, as I've written enough ahead to post on either schedule without delay!


	8. Chapter 8

“Jack, come on,” Tim groaned. “What’s the point of bringing me here if you’re just going to flaunt around anyways?”

“Hush, Timmy,” Jack said, waving his hand in Tim’s direction.

It was rare Jack left Helios, but he was here now with Tim at the Wildlife Preserve. The two were near the very entrance, far from where the experiments took place, but Tim knew it wouldn’t be long before they went inside.

Tim crossed his arms and waited impatiently for Jack to finish whatever he was doing on the computer. He didn’t like being in the same place as Jack. If anyone saw them both here, Jack would make Tim kill them.

Of course people suspected that Jack used body doubles. But anyone who saw Jack with one of them when they weren’t supposed to had to die.

“There, got it,” he said triumphantly. He slung an arm across Tim’s shoulders and drew him close, pointing at the screen. “See that, Tim? That’s genius at work.”

Tim could not read the code, so he simply nodded. “Absolutely.”

“Now, go out there and test the new defense systems. Use some of the loaders,” Jack said, shoving him towards the door. “I’m watching on the monitors.”

Tim heaved a sigh and left, going down to where some of the loaders were. They stomped around, doing whatever they’d been ordered to do.

“Hey,” Tim said to two of them. “Go attack those turrets.” He pointed to Jack’s newly installed turret system.

The loaders obediently headed for the turrets. Their movements always creeped Tim out. They reminded him of Felicity commenting on how awkward it was to walk in a loader body, and he didn’t like to think of Felicity.

One of them began firing on the left turret, and the other fired on the right one. The left one sprang to life and shot the loader down. The right one turned like it didn’t know where to shoot.

“Alright, quit it,” Tim called to the still-standing loader. “You live to serve me another day, congratulations. Get back to work before you destroy the freaking thing.”

The loader shambled away to return to its work. Tim hit his ECHO on his waist to connect to Jack.

“It’s not working,” he said.

“Thanks, Tim, I don’t have freaking eyes!” Jack snapped back.

“Or functioning turrets,” Tim muttered under his breath.

“What was that? What did you just say?”

“I said we need functioning turrets. Sir. Uh, me. Whatever. Whoever.”

“Handsome Jack, sir, a powerline was knocked out the other day. We’ve been working to fix it,” a human worker said. “It might be interfering with the turret.”

“Kill him,” Jack said. “If it’s knocked out, they should’ve fixed it. I mean, come on, what do I pay these chumps for?”

Tim yanked his gun out of his holster and shot the man between the eyes before he could protest. Other workers looked over in fear.

“Knocked out powerline. Get it up and running. Now,” he said, and gestured to the dead man. “And get him out of here before he stains the floor. What do I pay you chumps for?”

They scurried along to do as he asked. He holstered his gun, not looking where the dead man laid. Just some poor, innocent worker trying to be helpful.

_Don’t think about it. It’s them or you,_ he thought desperately.

Maybe they would leave and come back tomorrow to see if everything was fixed. Tim doubted it, but he hoped Jack would just get frustrated enough for them to go.

Tim looked out at the workers and the bots all running around in a hurry to please him. There weren’t many human workers out here, at least not today. Usually there were plenty more, and Tim wondered if-

The gunshot rang out, the crack of it shattering the white noise of the workers.

Tim wheezed as something tore through him, and it took his startled mind a moment to realize he’d been shot.

He looked down and placed a trembling hand over the stain spreading across his abdomen. He used his other hand to hit his ECHO.

“Jack,” he said, and his voice sounded strange. “Jack, I-”

He heard someone yelling as he hacked a cough and blood splattered on the ground. Was he yelling?

No, no, that was Jack. He couldn’t make out the words as he collapsed to his knees, pressing his hand harder against his abdomen and hissing in pain.

“Tim!”

He blinked his eyes open, unaware he’d closed them. Jack had both hands pressed to his abdomen, the pressure making Tim cry out in pain.

“Tim, dammit, keep your eyes open,” Jack commanded.

“Go…ghhh..in…ssss…de,” Tim managed weakly. There was a shooter. They were after Jack. What the hell was Jack thinking?

Jack took a hand away briefly to swipe at Tim’s watch. Light flashed forward before the red and blue digistructs took shape, immediately on guard.

“Shut up,” Jack said to Tim, gritting his teeth as he put more pressure on the wound. “I called for medical. You’re not dying today, Timmy.”

Tim didn’t understand why Jack was here. He opened his mouth, but only coughed up more blood, watching as Jack pressed even harder at his wound.

A laugh shuddered through him as he felt tears in his eyes. He was going to die. He didn’t want to die. He’d survived that whole Elpis ordeal and a frickin’ vault, just to die from a gunshot wound on Pandora?

“J…ack,” he wheezed, reaching blindly for the other man. He did not want to die alone.

Jack took Tim’s hand, surprising him. He pushed it to the wound, and Tim felt his own blood trying to flow out of his body. Still, he felt the press of Jack’s hands against his, and he closed his eyes.

“Tim.” Jack’s voice was sharp, and Tim cracked his eyes open. “Keep your eyes open. Look at me. You’re not dying, champ. Not today. I’m not letting that happen.”

Tim kept his gaze on Jack’s face, his breathing becoming harsher as his vision started to blur. Jack squeezed his hand hard enough to briefly bring his vision back into focus.

It felt like an eternity before Jack looked up. “Finally. He dies, so does everyone you’ve ever loved. Save him.”

_Save him._

Tim reached blindly for Jack’s hands as he felt them leave his. A hand fell on his shoulder.

“They need to tend to your wound, Tim,” Jack’s voice said, close to his ear. It was Jack’s hand. Jack didn’t leave him.

“If we can stop the blood loss, he should pull through. It doesn’t appear to have hit anything vital,” a voice above him said.

“Then stop the freaking blood loss!” Jack snapped.

Jack put both hands on Tim’s shoulders, a comfort and a restraint. Tim cried out as the medical team began tending to him, and his vision darkened.

“Stay with me, Tim,” Jack urged.

Tim pressed a bloody hand against Jack’s, and fell to the darkness.

***

Tim opened his eyes and looked at the room he’d been in for who knew how long. He was still restrained, but the vault hunters had not come back in quite a while.

Gaige had not come back.

Tim thought back to that day. The doctors later told him he would’ve died if Jack hadn’t kept the pressure on his wound until they arrived. Jack had saved his life, putting himself at risk to do it.

They caught the sniper, and Wilhelm had assured Tim that the man’s death had been slow and agonizing. Jack saw to that personally.

It took Tim a while to recover, but Jack visited him daily, sometimes sitting with him for hours and complaining about his work day. No one else came to see Tim, save for doctors and nurses who only checked his vitals without speaking to him.

Tim to this day couldn’t fathom how the sniper failed to kill him. He’d been standing still, right out in the open.

Jack said he hadn’t bothered to ask, and figured the workers breaking their usual routine to fix the powerline had screwed up his concentration. The best Jack could think of was that a worker had gotten too close as the sniper went to make the shot, startling him.

Tim never saw any of those workers or medics again.

He tried not to think on that part of it too hard.

Gaige and the vault hunters would never understand. Jack was crazy and violent, but he looked after his team.

He always reminded Tim of that, but he’d proved it, over and over again. Tim couldn’t just betray all his secrets to the vault hunters.

The door to the room opened and Tim watched as Gaige and Axton came in. Gaige knelt beside him and began to play with the restraints on his legs.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Uh, taking them off. Duh,” she said.

He furrowed his brow in confusion, then noticed Axton had slipped a gun into his hand. He didn’t aim it at Tim, but it was there as a subtle warning for Tim to behave.

Tim couldn’t help it; his breathing hitched a little. Last time they’d taken him out of here, they’d hung him over Pandora.

Gaige noticed the change in his breathing and pat his leg. “We’re not doing that again. I promise.”

He shouldn’t trust her. She was one of the vault hunters. She wanted to kill Jack. She had no reason to tell him the truth.

But she hadn’t hurt Jay and Blue. And she’d stopped the vault hunters from exploiting his fear.

She freed his legs and took the chains on his wrists off, though she kept them bound together. She hauled him to his feet with surprising strength.

“Where are we going then?” Tim asked cautiously.

“Out for some air,” Gaige said, taking out the cloth sack. “Sorry dude, can’t have you knowing your way around Sanctuary.”

He flinched back involuntarily as she went to put it over his head. She paused and then raised it slowly again.

“We’re not doing that,” she said, her voice firm this time.

He reluctantly allowed the cloth sack to be placed over his head. She took his arm and led him out of the room. He felt the familiar change of ground under his feet as they left the building he’d been captive in, but it only panicked him more.

He focused on his breathing, taking slow breaths. They walked for a while, the gusts of wind twisting Tim’s stomach whenever they blew against him.

Gaige tugged him to a stop and pressed on his shoulders. He lowered himself slowly, relaxing as he found nothing but solid ground underneath him. He sat and waited until she’d removed the sack from his head.

He let his vision adjust and his heart settled. There was no jagged edge, no Pandora far below him. Just solid ground and a mess of junk in front of him.

“This is Claptrap’s, uh, place I guess,” Axton explained.

“What?” That had Tim’s heart leaping in panic again. He shot an accusing glare at Gaige. “You said you weren’t torturing me this time.”

“Oh, cut it out, you big baby,” she said dismissively. “Claptrap’s not here right now. We’re all safe from that.”

“Why do you hate him so much?” Axton asked. “I mean, yea he’s annoying, but…” He trailed off and frowned. “Okay, I see your point.”

“No, you really don’t,” Tim said dryly. “I had to work with him. Do you know how bad he is? He’s so annoying, he annoyed his goddamn self.”

Tim was startled to remember their trip into Claptrap’s mind. He could vividly recall himself yelling at Claptrap to shut up, calling him an asshole, and reminding the little robot how much he hated him.

But he also remembered Claptrap refusing to betray them when given the chance.

He remembered Jack supposedly killing Claptrap.

He remembered Nisha and Wilhelm laughing heartily as Claptrap’s body fell to the ground. He remembered Athena turning her head in disgust. He’d met her eyes briefly in that moment, and neither could bear to look at each long enough to see their guilt echoed.

“You just don’t seem like a vault hunter,” Gaige said, pulling Tim out of his thoughts. “Maybe it’s because you look like Jack and that coward is a total little bitch. I just can’t picture you fighting.”

_You look like Jack_. She said he looked like Jack, but she didn’t say that he was him.

“Fighting wasn’t the plan at first,” Tim admitted. “But when people shoot at you, you shoot back.”

“You’re a sniper,” Axton said.

“Sometimes,” Tim said.

He preferred to use his sniper rifle to pick off as many targets as he could before his position became compromised. Then he liked a good old pistol and his digi-Jacks to finish the job.

Gaige’s eyes were wide with curiosity, and she practically bounced up and down. “Are there really laser weapons on the moon?”

Tim grimaced. “I have the scars to prove it.” He looked around, unable to shake the feeling that this was a trick. “Why are we here?”

“To get some air. They’ve been keeping you in that room for, like, ever,” Gaige said.

“The others don’t know I’m here, do they?” Tim said, raising an eyebrow.

“Ah…of course they do!” Gaige lied.

“Great,” Tim said. “Can’t wait for that shitshow.”

“Well they won’t find out if you don’t tell them,” Gaige said. “They’re all on Pandora killing bandits or something. We offered to guard you.”

“And you’re doing a great job of it, kiddo,” Tim said, gesturing with his foot to the lack of confinement.

It was strange to be in the company of these two. He’d been confined primarily to Helios once Jack became paranoid about losing him. Nisha and Wilhelm may have both been crazy, but they were the only human companions he’d had. Nisha freaked him out most of the time, but Wilhelm would talk excitedly about his latest modification or battle, and that was as close to a normal conversation as Tim could get anymore. Losing the two of them had been an unexpected blow.

The people on Helios feared and worshipped Jack, and Tim did not trust a single one of them. They’d try to cozy up to him in hopes of advancement or praise, and Tim would give them a sly smile and pull their strings the way Jack had taught him.

But these two weren’t Hyperion personal. They were just vault hunters, like he’d once been. Axton was clearly ex-Dahl, and Gaige was…he wasn’t sure. An ex-student? Neither of them looked very old. Tim doubted there was much age difference between him and Axton.

Axton got up and checked one of the tables haphazardly set up, flicking open the lid on a box. “Wow, he actually has fresh pizza,” Axton said in surprise.

“No way. Fresh?” Gaige said, whipping her head around.

“Yea, cold but only a few hours old,” Axton said, lifting the box and sitting back down with them. He placed the box between himself and Gaige and helped himself to a slice of pizza.

Gaige tore off a piece and offered it to Tim. He hated being fed like a toddler, but he was hungry and the pizza smelled good, so he opened his mouth and accepted the chunk.

It was cold but it was pizza and it was damned good. He couldn’t remember the last time he actually had pizza.

“Hey, so, can I ask about the, you know…?” Gaige lifted her finger in the air and traced the outline of his facial scar.

“Ask Lilith,” Tim spat, expression darkening. “She did it to me.” He realized his mistake a beat too late. “To, ah, to him. Jack.”

“And Jack did it to you,” Gaige said.

“Well, I didn’t do it to myself,” Tim said bitterly.

Jack had seen to disfiguring Tim personally. Tim could still remember Jack’s hand gripping his jaw, pulling him close.

“You thought you were gonna leave me, Timmy?” he’d said, eyes cold despite the smile on his face. “There is no Timothy Lawrence to go back to. You’re Handsome Jack now, champ.”

Tim had been planning to leave him. He’d been planning to ask Janey Springs for help in fleeing to one of the border planets to hide. But Jack found out, and made sure Tim never left.

“Hey, more pizza, kiddo,” Tim commanded, not wanting to think about any of it. It was in the past, where it deserved to stay. A lot had happened since then.

Gaige picked up a slice and slapped him in the face with it. “Still want more?”

“You’re just a charming little thing,” he groaned.

“Little?” Gaige glared and smacked him with the pizza again. “Fuck you.”

“Language!” Axton said, snatching the pizza from her and using it to hit her in the shoulder.

“Hey! Give me back my pizza,” Gaige said, trying to get it back from him.

Tim watched the two argue over the pizza, staring longingly at the slice. What a waste.

Gaige finally abandoned her attempts. She slipped his watch out of her pocket and looked it over.

“Does it have to be your finger?” she asked.

Tim shook his head. “I guess not. But I always use my fingers.”

She took his elbow and pressed it to the watch. The familiar red and blue lights flashed as the digi-Jacks took shape.

They were instantly on guard as they realized their outdoor surroundings, but relaxed a little when they saw Tim sitting safely on the ground. Axton looked uneasy at the appearance of the digistructs, touching the gun at his waist as if it would be able to stop them.

“So, about that pizza,” Tim said casually, nodding to his armed companions.

“You think I’m afraid of them?” Gaige said, picking up a slice and taking a bite. “They can pry it from my cold, dead hands.”

“They would, if that’s what I wanted,” Tim reminded.

“Hey,” Axton said sharply.

“Lighten up,” Gaige said, patting his shoulder. She tore off another chunk of her pizza and tossed it onto Tim’s lap. “Work for it.”

“Blue,” Tim said. “Help a guy out?”

“Seriously?” he said in exasperation. “What am I, your mother?”

“I think you like me more than she did,” Tim said as Blue knelt down and solidified his hand to lift the piece. He released it once it was in Tim’s mouth and instead took to examining the junk around the area.

“What is this dump?” he asked.

“Claptrap’s place,” Tim grumbled.

“No,” Jay groaned. “Not Claptrap.”

“He’s not even here! You’re all babies,” Gaige said.

She opened her mouth to say something else, but stopped as her ECHO pinged. She pulled it from her waist and accepted the call.

“What’s up?” she said.

“Is everything okay on Sanctuary?” Roland asked.

“Yea, everything’s the same as always,” she said. “Why?”

“Look at this,” Roland said.

Gaige watched the screen for a moment, and then her face paled. Her gaze darted from the ECHO, to Tim, and back.

Oh no.

“We got intel on Hyperion activity near one of the bandit camps. We came to investigate after the Crimson Raiders I sent didn’t check back in.” Roland’s voice was grim. “I’m sending some of the others back, just in case. Is Axton with you? He should see this.”

Gaige laid the ECHO between the three of them so they could all see the screen. Tim had to bend forward and kick at Jay to move his leg out of the way before it came into view.

Years of conditioning by Jack kept his expression from dropping, but it didn’t stop his heart from sinking.

Several Crimson Raiders laid dead, their bodies defiled and horribly beaten. The pavement in front of them was painted with blood, spelling out a very clear message for all of them to read.

_I’ll keep taking yours until mine’s back._

“Dammit,” Axton growled.

“Call me if anything happens up there,” Roland said and cut the connection.

“Jack,” Jay said quietly, and Tim didn’t know if he meant him or the real Jack.

“He’ll come for you,” Blue said to Tim. “You’re…He won’t let anyone else have you.”

Tim nodded slowly and met Gaige’s eyes. “You need to go if you want to live. He’s making a move.”

“Then we’ll make one too,” Gaige said, standing up.

Jay helped Tim to his feet, eyes shooting to the bindings. Tim shook his head. He had nowhere to escape to. Axton was armed, and Gaige had the watch.

“Go. I’ll be fine,” he said quietly, so the others couldn't hear them

“No. You won’t,” Jay said, voice equally as quiet. “Either they hurt you, or Jack does. If I cut the bindings, we can take out these two and go. It’s your best chance at escape, Timothy.”

“Hey.”

They both looked over at Axton, who had his gun aimed at Tim. “Gaige, it’s time to take him back.”

Gaige didn’t argue. She held up the watch, and Tim knew he would not escape, because he didn’t want to hurt her.

“Go,” he said, this time louder so Blue could hear too.

They both disappeared, Gaige putting the watch back in her pocket. Jay was right; it had been his best chance at escape. But it meant killing Axton and incapacitating Gaige, and risking the safety of the watch. Plus, Tim didn’t know his way around Sanctuary. He assumed they also kept his face covered when they took him out so no one knew they had “Handsome Jack” prisoner. The second someone saw his face, all the armed Crimson Raiders would be after him, and he was unarmed.

He allowed himself to be blinded and led back to the room. His security would get tighter after this, but surely Jack had to have an actual plan other than just taunting the vault hunters.

If Tim couldn’t convince Gaige to run, maybe he could convince Jack not to kill her. It wasn’t a likely outcome, but he had to try.

The sack was taken off his head and he met those green eyes, her face young but determined. She was so full of life.

He did not want to see her die.

“He’ll kill you,” Tim said softly.

“Not if I kill him first,” she said.

He watched her go, and when the door shut and he was left alone again, he rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes. He didn’t want to be Timothy Lawrence anymore. Timothy Lawrence felt guilt. Timothy Lawrence had morals. Timothy Lawrence defied Jack.

Handsome Jack did not hesitate. Handsome Jack saw victims where people stood. Handsome Jack would not be torn up inside over this dilemma.

He wanted to be Handsome Jack. But as his heart ached at the thought of what Jack was about to unleash on Gaige and her friends, he realized that some pathetic part of Timothy Lawrence had clung to life through the years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to the people who commented last chapter! Updates will now be every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday ^-^ I hope you're enjoying the story!


	9. Chapter 9

“Sir, everyone is in place,” a voice said over his ECHO.

Handsome Jack curled his hands into fists. “Then get on with it.”

“Yes, sir,” the voice said, and the connection cut.

Jack stood up, pacing back and forth behind his desk. “What a freaking mess. What a goddamn freaking mess, right!”

The dead body on the floor did not answer. The live one whimpered.

Jack stopped pacing and braced his hands on his desk. They had killed his girlfriend. His enforcer.

And now they had taken his other-Jack. Tim.

Jack curled his fingers into the desk until his knuckles turned white. Timothy was his. He’d worked so damn hard to make Timothy loyal to him, and now he was the only loyal one Jack had left.

He could still remember Tim’s hesitation and small acts of defiance. He’d weeded those behaviors out nice and slow, making sure the lessons stuck and that Tim learned very well that no one else would ever look after him the way Handsome Jack would.

Jack could not allow the vault hunters to ruin Timothy again. Not after all his hard work. Not when Tim was all that was left for him.

“God freaking dammit!” he said, and walked past his desk.

He straddled the living victim on the floor. The two men had come in to ask why Jack hadn’t showed up to their meeting this morning. The meeting Timothy was supposed to handle for him.

“He didn’t show up because he’s not-freaking-here.” Jack punctuated each word by slamming the man’s head against the ground.

He dug his fingers into the man’s windpipe, feeling him convulse as he tried to get air into his lungs. He struggled, clawing at Jack’s arms. But Jack just pressed tighter, imagining it was the throat of one of those damned vault hunters.

_“I’ve got him. I knocked the double unconscious.”_

That’s what that filthy bandit had said, Jack listening over the ECHO. He’d been furious. He still was.

He slammed the man’s head against the ground until blood sprayed across the tiles, snarling curse words under his breath. The man beneath his grasp was dead, but he kept strangling him, kept crushing his throat.

_“I can’t find a pocket watch on him. Let’s tie him up and take him with us.”_

Those filthy fucking bandits had his doppelganger. Jack didn’t worry about them getting information out of him; no, Timothy was too loyal for that. Maybe he didn’t think he was, maybe he thought he wasn’t just an extension of Jack. But Jack personally saw to it that Timothy Lawrence was dead, and only a copy of Handsome Jack remained. Tim showed cracks from time to time, but Jack filled them neatly and sent his other-Jack back out good as new.

But what if those cracks started to show when he was with those filthy bandits? They’d exploit them, dig their claws into the cracks and tear them open. They’d ruin his Timothy.

He couldn’t have that.

He relaxed his grip and tapped his finger in rhythm where the man’s pulse should’ve been. His plan to get Timothy back was in motion, and once he had the double back by his side, he could repair any damage. Then they could get their revenge.

He reached out and lightly slapped the dead man’s face. “Don’t worry, cupcake. He’ll be back real soon.”

Soon.

***

“I just don’t think you should let his digistructs out,” Axton said. “They could’ve been, I don’t know, plotting escape.”

“How’s he gonna escape, Ax? There’s one way off of Sanctuary, and there’s armed people all over the place,” Gaige said. “He has to know he’s not getting out of here.”

Axton rubbed his leg, and Gaige felt guilty. After they’d gone after bandits together, Axton had hurt his leg worse trying to dodge out of the way of an attacking psycho. She should’ve made sure he was healed before taking him out.

“He’s still a person,” she said, touching the watch in her pocket. “You saw that today.”

“He’s been with Handsome Jack for years. I doubt there’s too much of a person left in him,” Axton said.

“Look, you did shitty things when you were in the Dahl military, right? But Sarah saved you,” Gaige said.

“I…guess,” Axton said. “But I wasn’t imitating a psychopath.”

Gaige leaned against the wall, bothered by what they’d seen and not-Jack’s lack of a reaction to it. She was also bothered by the digi-Jacks’ reactions. Blue said Jack wouldn’t let anyone else have not-Jack. Just how deep had Jack dug his claws into this man?

The door to the room they were in opened and Roland and Lilith came in, followed by a small group of people that Gaige didn’t recognize. She and Axton watched curiously.

A woman carrying a baby sniffled, her forehead bleeding. Lilith put a comforting hand on her arm.

“You’re all going to be okay,” she said to them. “We’ll take you to Dr. Zed to get patched up, and then we’ll find you somewhere to sleep. You’re safe now.”

“What happened?” Axton asked Roland.

“They were attacked by Handsome Jack’s loader bots,” Roland explained. “We destroyed all the loaders, but two of their people were killed. They were trying to flee Hyperion occupation.”

“Anything more on what Jack’s planning?” Gaige asked.

Roland shook his head. “Hyperion activity has been increased in the Outlands, but other than that, nothing. We’re keeping our eyes and ears open.”

Gaige was glad Roland hadn’t noticed the watch was missing. With so much else on his plate, she doubted he’d even bothered checking on not-Jack’s things. Only the vault hunters had access to it, after all.

“Roland, I’m going to take them to Zed,” Lilith said. She had put her arm around the silently crying woman, trying to offer her comfort. Gaige had to look away, remembering the hard look in Lilith’s eyes when they suspended the terrified doppelganger over Pandora. She could be a kind person, but she could also be a brutally efficient vault hunter.

Gaige instead watched the group as they followed Lilith out. The woman with her baby, three adult men, a woman who looked about Axton’s age, and two teenagers made up the group. Several of them were injured, and all looked quiet and shaken as they shuffled along together.

God, she couldn’t wait to kill Handsome Jack. He was a monster.

“Anything out of the doppelganger yet?” Roland asked.

Gaige shook her head. “The only thing out of him is rude sass.”

“We can’t keep pushing off the assault on the Bunker. We need to make our move soon, before Jack charges the vault key,” Roland said. “I don’t like the idea of going into the Bunker blind, but we might be able to use him as a means of entry and as a hostage. If he’s this important to Jack, I doubt Jack will want him dead.”

“Or just stick him in a room with Claptrap for five minutes. He’ll spill everything,” Gaige said.

“Wouldn’t we all?” Axton said, grimacing.

“So what are you going to do?” Gaige asked.

Roland shook his head. “I’ll think it over. I’ll try getting answers out of him again in the morning, but if we still have nothing, we’ll just have to take our chances with an assault and hope having him buys us some protection.”

He left them to go speak with Tannis, and Gaige groaned, banging her head against Axton’s shoulder. He nudged her off and frowned.

“Gaige, don’t get attached to him,” he said.

“Says the guy who calls a turret his girlfriend!” Gaige said.

He pouted. “You know what I mean.” He sighed and looked down at his hands. “He’ll…probably be dead when this is all over. I can’t see him surviving this whole thing.”

Gaige knew he was right, but she hated that he was right, so she clenched her fists and let out a frustrated noise. Axton put a hand on her shoulder but offered her no words of comfort; there were none to give.

There was something beyond that Jack façade, she’d seen it slip through. He was trying to keep her away from Jack’s wrath. He’d saved Axton’s life. He’d only been captured because he let them live.

He wasn’t Jack. Even if he didn’t realize it.

“I need to get some fresh air,” Gaige said.

“You know where to find me,” Axton said, squeezing her shoulder before letting her go.

She left, heading out into the breezy air of Sanctuary. She paced around the now-familiar spaces, occasionally nodding to a Raider she recognized. She found herself heading towards Scooter’s garage, and sat on the steps next to it.

She rubbed her arms as a gust of air blew past, making her shiver. She couldn’t stop thinking about Axton’s words.

He was right, and she hated it. They were going to kill the doppelganger, and none of them would dwell on it all because he wore Jack’s face.

“Everything okay, Gaige?”

She looked over as Maya sat next to her. The two hadn’t really spoken since the incident with the doppelganger.

“Do you regret what you did to him?” Gaige asked.

Maya dropped her gaze. “Back on Athenas, I was used to control the people. I was just something to fear. And when I did that to him, I became that person again. So yes, I regret what I did to him.”

“He’s not Handsome Jack,” Gaige said. “But we’re taking out our anger on him like he is.”

“He’s not innocent,” Maya warned. “He’s been working for Jack. Willingly, as far as we can tell. He’s loyal enough not to give away Jack’s secrets.”

“Axton and I talked to Angel about him,” Gaige said. “She said Jack’s been manipulating him into loyalty.”

“Loyalty is loyalty,” Maya said. “If he works for Jack and he’s loyal to Jack, then Jack will use him against us the first chance he gets. Gaige, we need to be careful with the doppelganger.”

“I know, I know, I’m not stupid!” Gaige said, and lightly punched her knuckles to her forehead. “Shit, maybe I am.”

“Compassion isn’t stupid,” Maya said, putting a hand on her back. “But blind hope is. Don’t trick yourself into believing he’s a better person just because you don’t want him to be Jack. This is a war, and we can’t afford to lose.”

“I know that,” Gaige groaned. “I need to go shoot things. I’m going to Marcus’s shop. If anyone needs me, tell them I’ll make them a target.”

“Will do,” Maya said, cracking a smile.

Gaige got up and went to Marcus’s, ignoring the merchant as he tried to tell her about new guns he had in stock. She grabbed her gun and aimed at one of the targets in the room, letting her mind focus only on the shots she was taking.

She blew through ammo, taking shot after shot, and still she did not feel any better about the whole situation. When her frustration grew to the point that her aim faltered, she huffed and stormed out of the shop, heading for the building they kept not-Jack in.

Brick had returned to his people, and Mordecai was off doing whatever it was he did on Pandora, and so Salvador was currently on guard duty.

“Hey, Sal. I need to talk to not-Jack,” she said.

Salvador just shrugged at her, grumbling something about how they should let him “talk” to not-Jack for answers. Gaige ignored that and went inside, where not-Jack was asleep with his chin on his chest.

She sat across from him and the noise of her boots on the ground had his head jerking up, his hands yanking on the restraints. He relaxed when he realized it was just her, and tried to stretch out his neck and shoulders.

“What, just came for the view?” he said, quirking an eyebrow.

_There it is. There’s the Handsome Jack façade,_ Gaige thought.

Gaige took the watch out, but didn’t swipe his finger over it. “Did you have anyone besides them before we kidnapped you?”

“I had Nisha and Wilhelm, but you guys killed them,” not-Jack said flatly. “Although I guess I should thank you. I owed Wilhelm from our last poker match. No need to pay up to the dead.”

Gaige couldn’t imagine playing poker with that homicidal machine man, but then again, she played poker with Salvador and he was wanted for cannibalism, so.

“So what you’re saying is that your only friends were AIs,” she said.

“It was AIs, or Hyperion employees. At least I could order the AIs to shut up when they were being assholes,” not-Jack said.

“And Jack?” Gaige said.

That seemed to catch him off guard. His expression didn’t change, but she knew by the sounds of the chains rattling that he’d fidgeted his hands.

“What about him?” not-Jack asked.

“Were you best friends with that asshole?” Gaige said.

Not-Jack laughed. “You’re freaking serious? Best friends? With Handsome Jack?” He tried to control his laughter, though Gaige had noticed it never sounded sincere. “The guy kept his old boss’s frickin’ goatee on display in his office. Little too intense for me.”

Gaige didn’t believe him. She leaned forward and pressed the watch to his exposed skin, and he jumped.

“Hey,” he whined.

The digi-Jacks appeared and the red one let out a frustrated noise. “I am getting really sick of this room.”

“You?” not-Jack choked out. “You’re getting sick of this room? Really? Wow, I wonder what it’d freaking be like to be stuck in it all day for an endless amount of freaking time. Fuck you, Jay.”

Jay gave him an offended look. “I was just saying.”

“How long have I been here, anyways?” not-Jack asked. “It feels like forever.”

“A while,” Gaige said, not wanting to tell him it wouldn’t be long before they took him out of here permanently. She’d think of a way to keep him alive. Just like he’d kept her and Axton alive. “Hey, not-Jack-”

“Jack,” he corrected. “My name is Jack.”

“Right, anyways, so not-Jack,” she continued, “they’re going to keep asking you about the Bunker. If you cooperate, you’ll have a better time.”

“No, I won’t,” he said. “You’ll use me to break into the Bunker, Jack will kill all of you, and he’ll get me back.”

“And what happens when he gets you back?” Gaige said.

Not-Jack didn’t answer, but the anger on the digi-Jacks’ faces was enough to answer her question.

Blue sat down next to not-Jack, and Jay just stood at his side. She wondered if they knew what Jack had put this man through. They always seemed to get angry when she brought Jack up.

“So if they were your only friends, what would you guys do?” she asked. At least DT was physical. If she wanted to…play catch with him or something, she had the option.

“You’re asking a lot of questions today, kiddo,” not-Jack said.

“And you’re not giving me a lot of answers, asshole,” she said.

“We’d stream movies through his ECHO,” Blue said, which surprised her.

“Oh, yea, he picks the worst movies,” Jay said, scrunching up his face in disgust. “There was that one about the guy who-”

“Shut it!” not-Jack said, trying to kick Jay, only for his leg to go right through. “Let me kick you, you coward.”

“No,” Jay said, grinning.

“You’re the worst, the freaking worst. I could’ve left you saying stupid things like ‘the world just got 25% more handsome’, you know,” not-Jack said, glaring.

“We wouldn’t have known the difference,” Blue said, shrugging.

Gaige was struck by something so suddenly that she let out an “Oh” of surprise. How had she not noticed before?

“What?” not-Jack said, looking over at her.

She pointed to Blue’s face. “That’s…what Jack used to look like? Before that?” She pointed to not-Jack’s scar.

“Yea, that’s what I, ah, we, used to look like,” not-Jack said. “Jack didn’t bother to update their physical appearance after…” He trailed off and just shrugged his shoulders.

“After he changed yours,” Blue grumbled. Jay shot him a glare.

“Mine looks better than yours, I think. I don’t have the little…” not-Jack pointed at his chin. “Looks as stupid on you as it did on us.”

“Shut it,” Blue said, elbowing him in the ribs.

“He’s right though,” Jay said miserably.

Gaige watched the three interact. There was something off about the digi-Jacks. They’d been granted personalities, but they didn’t seem to do much with them. They interacted with not-Jack, and with her and each other, but something about it felt hollow compared to interacting with humans. She couldn’t imagine having them as her only friends.

Well, them and Handsome Jack. Not-Jack didn’t exactly keep winning company.

Gaige thought about what Axton and Maya had said. She didn’t really know this man, and chances were she never really would. They were going to kill him because it was too risky to let him live. She knew that. He knew that.

She didn’t want that.

She just sat and watched him interact with his digital companions. They argued with each other about food (with not-Jack reminding them that they didn’t even know what food tasted like), and they talked about what a dump Claptrap’s place was (not-Jack said it was still less of a mess than Claptrap’s mind). Their conversations didn’t hold much weight to them, but they seemed familiar and easy to not-Jack, and Gaige just watched the way his shoulders relaxed as he talked and listened to them. Slowly slipping out of the Jack persona.

“Hey, remember that song?” Jay said.

“Hey, don’t remember that song. Please,” Blue said.

Not-Jack groaned and hummed out a tune. “Oh, goddammit, Jay. Stupid freaking mainframe.”

“Mainframe?” Gaige finally rejoined the conversation.

“This stupid song I thought I destroyed. Or, well, I did destroy it, but not from my own mind.” He grunted and hummed it out again, looking miserable. “Why’d you have to put it back in my head?”

“Yea, why?” Blue said, looking equally as miserable.

“I…actually wish I hadn’t,” Jay said, frowning as he hummed out the same tune. “Oh, shit.”

“Yea, shit,” not-Jack said, but he had the faintest smile on his lips. It was the closest thing to a genuine expression she’d seen on his face aside from terror.

Gaige checked the watch as it pulsed in her hand, warning her that the digi-Jacks’ time was almost up. They both looked at the watch with dread.

“See you, then,” not-Jack said, the smile gone.

“Yea, see you,” Jay mumbled. Blue just nudged him again, and the two disappeared back into the watch.

Gaige stretched and stood up. “It’s getting late. I’m going to bed. Catch you later, not-Jack.”

“It’s just Jack!” he called after her, but she simply raised her hand in a short wave and left the room.

“You were in there for a while,” Salvador said as she passed him.

“Goodnight!” she said cheerfully, hurrying out of the building before he could question her.

It was dark out, and the breeze was a sharp chill against her skin. She walked briskly back to the Raider’s headquarters, relieved as she entered it and was shielded from the wind.

Maya was asleep on one of the beds, and Axton sat in another watching something on his ECHO. He acknowledged her with a wave, which she returned as she collapsed onto a bed.

She buried her face in the pillow, closing her eyes. She knew Roland would go to see not-Jack in the morning, and then they would probably head to the Bunker. She needed sleep, but her mind wouldn’t silence itself.

“Ugh!” she cried, getting up and stomping over to Axton’s bed. She shoved him aside and dropped next to him, tugging the ECHO so that they could both see it. Axton rolled his eyes but gave her room on the bed and rested the ECHO on his knees, tilted so they both had easy access to the screen. He was watching some movie she didn’t recognize.

But the movie wasn’t her thoughts, so she focused on it. She felt her eyes struggling to stay open the longer the movie went on and, relieved, gave into sleep.

***

Gaige groaned and sat up, rubbing her eyes. She heard a high-pitched noise outside.

It took her groggy mind too long to process that it was a scream.

“Axton!” she said, snapping awake and shaking him. “Axton, wake up! Maya! Someone’s screaming!”

Roland and Lilith were already running down the stairs, alarm on their faces. Axton sat up, and Maya got to her feet.

“What’s going on?” Gaige asked anxiously.

“Smoke, from several places. Gunshots.” Roland's expression was dark. “We’re under attack.”

Gaige’s heart stuttered in her chest and she grabbed Axton’s arm, yanking him out of bed. They had to get to not-Jack. They had to.

Handsome Jack had come for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now we'll see if I can write Borderlands based tension oh boy. Also, I may or may not have started a new Tim-based fanfic that I hope to post eventually


	10. Chapter 10

Tim tucked his chin against his chest and tried to get some sleep. He felt better after having gotten to spend so long with Jay and Blue.

But now he also felt empty without them beside him. He rubbed his wrist against the bindings, letting them rub at the bare skin where his watch should be.

He was just starting to nod off when he heard something loud outside. He picked his head up, trying to blink away the sleep. He shook himself, trying to focus.

Were they coming to try and get more answers from him? Or was it Gaige coming back to talk?

But then someone screamed, and he heard a burst of gunfire. Oh, shit, that wasn’t good.

“Son of a taint,” he hissed, tugging desperately at his bindings. What the hell was happening outside?

The door banged open and he glared defiantly as three guns pointed right at him. But then they all lowered immediately, and two of the assailants hurried forward.

“We found the doppelganger,” the one still standing by the door said into his ECHO, turning to guard the others.

“Jack sent you,” Tim said in understanding.

“Handsome Jack ordered us to infiltrate Sanctuary and get you out, no matter the cost,” the woman trying to free his hands said. She had a bandage on her forehead, and a few cuts and bruises on her. She cursed and picked up her gun, shooting off the chains that bound him to the wall. The other man with her copied her to free his legs, and they both worked to pry the bindings off him, finally freeing him.

Tim got to his feet and rubbed his wrists. The woman stood and handed him an ECHO. He clipped it to his waist.

“So do I get a weapon? I know this is a charming face and all, but guns work better than words in this shithole,” he said, slipping into his Jack persona. Getting out of here was going to be bloody, no doubt about that. He couldn’t hesitate, or he’d likely be killed.

The woman handed him a pistol and extra ammo. He aimed the pistol to get a feel for it before nodding at them. He didn’t know his way around Sanctuary.

“My watch,” he said as they started moving. “I need to get my watch before we go.”

“No time. Handsome Jack will get you a new one,” the woman said.

“I’m not leaving without-”

He didn’t get to finish that sentence as three Crimson Raiders blocked their exit, spraying gunfire at them. Tim ducked behind a crate and cursed loudly.

“A freaking shield would be nice, cupcake!” he snapped.

The woman provided cover fire so one of the men could pass him a shield. He hastily equipped it and joined the others in firing on the Raiders.

He didn’t let himself process what he was doing. He just aimed and fired.

He could still save Gaige, but not if he was recaptured. If they got their hands on him, it was all over. They’d kill him, and Jack would kill them.

“Maria, there’s more outside,” one of the men said urgently. “Call the others for backup.”

The woman, Maria apparently, said something into her ECHO. Tim missed her words as another burst of gunfire was sprayed at them.

There was no chance to return gunfire. The Raiders were covering each other, firing at them in shifts while their companions reloaded and then took over. Tim cursed under his breath. If he had his watch, this would be so much easier. He had to get Jay and Blue before he left. He wouldn’t abandon them.

He heard even more gunfire, and the hail of bullets being directed at their little group thinned out. Tim risked peeking out from his cover and saw two people firing on the Raiders. Having caught them by surprise, they’d managed to take out most of them.

Tim and the others opened fire again, leaving their cover as they took out the last of the Raiders blocking their exit. Maria hurried him along, watching his back as the men went ahead of him to make sure the exit was clear.

They emerged from the building and Tim prepared himself for another firefight. They weren’t going to let him go that easily.

As they dashed along, Tim felt a familiar feeling as he was caught in the Siren’s power. He hovered off the ground, hissing curses.

“Going somewhere?” Maya said, pointing her gun at him with her free hand.

The psycho vault hunter was trying to take on his rescuers, yelling something about stripping their flesh and meat bicycles. Maria disengaged from him, firing her gun at Maya.

Maya was forced to release Tim before her shield gave out, taking cover. Maria grabbed his arm, pulling him to his feet and dragging him along.

“We need to get you out of here, sir,” she said. “Unharmed. Handsome Jack wants you unharmed.”

Tim grimaced. Unharmed so that Jack could do his own damage, no doubt.

The others were trying to cover them so they could escape Maya. But Lilith was out there somewhere too, and escaping her would not be so easy. Tim could only hope they’d found a way to distract her.

Tim had to trust that Maria knew where she was going, because he absolutely did not. The place seemed to be a maze of alleys, sudden drops, and dead ends.

Tim was burning with questions about how they infiltrated Sanctuary, but now was not the time for talk. Jack would tell him everything once he was back.

She pulled him around a corner and they ran towards a building. Tim grabbed her shirt and yanked them behind cover just before Axton’s turret began firing on them.

“Give up, not-Jack,” Axton called. “You’re not getting off Sanctuary.”

“The fast travel station is in that building he’s guarding,” Maria said, and hit her ECHO. “We need backup. I have the doppelganger at the building, but the Commando is guarding it. Possibly more waiting inside.”

Possibly Gaige.

Tim gripped his gun tighter. There was no choice anymore. After this, they wouldn’t let him live if they got their hands on him. They’d find one of the pocket watch doubles and take him instead, breaking into the Bunker and dying. He had to get off Sanctuary if he wanted to save Gaige.

Something slammed into him, knocking the breath out of him. He hit the ground hard, and Lilith sat on top of him pinning him to the ground and knocking the gun out of his hands.

“Oh no you don’t,” she said, gripping his wrists and slamming his arms to the ground before he could try to push her off of himself.

“Sir!” Maria cried, but was tackled by Roland before she could shoot Lilith.

Tim struggled against Lilith, but as he looked up at her, his expression darkened. Hate rose within him. She had done this.

“You did this,” he snarled.

“Did what?” she said.

“You ruined everything!” he cried, slamming his knee into her back. She winced, but kept her grip on him. “You branded my fucking face!”

“Jack did that!” she said firmly.

“You did it,” he said, the words hissing from his mouth. Jack had reminded him over and over that this was all because of Lilith. She was the reason Jack branded his face. The only difference was that his brand wasn’t blue, and his eye was still intact. And even that mercy was only because he relied so heavily on his sniping. He gave a savage yank of his hands, pulling her off balance and allowing him to drive his knees into her back again, this time with enough force to loosen her grip. He pulled his hands free and drove an elbow into her stomach.

Lilith gagged and tried to reach for him again, but he was too fast. He threw himself on top of her and wrapped his hands around her neck, feeling his fingers dig into the flesh as he squeezed.

“You ruined me,” he rasped. “You did this.”

_Jack ruined you, no, Lilith ruined you, you’re Handsome Jack, Handsome Jack, Timothy don’t kill her it’s not you it’s not you, do it, do it, you’re Handsome Jack_

He couldn’t silence his own thoughts and cried out in frustration. She deserved to die, she’d ruined everything.

_You’ll never come back from this._

With another frustrated cry, he released her neck. He’d only begun to pull his hands away when something cracked against his skull, sending him crashing to the ground.

He groaned and tried to focus his blurry vision. He could vaguely make out Axton trying to help Lilith sit up.

Tim dug his fingers against the pavement and tried to drag himself away from them. His head was throbbing, and he’d been disarmed. He couldn’t fight back.

Someone grabbed the back of his shirt, yanking him back. He heard gunfire and squeezed his eyes shut as his head throbbed more at the sudden loud sound.

Someone grabbed him again, but this time they tried to help him to his feet. He opened his eyes and realized it was Maria. She pulled his arm across her shoulders and wrapped an arm around his waist, staggering under his weight as she got him back to his feet. Another woman, a teenager, and one of the men from before were firing at the vault hunters as Maria pulled him to cover.

“Sir, we need to move,” she said, pulling a health kit out and jamming it into him. He winced, but the headache tearing through him eased, and he could focus once again. “They’ve already killed two of our people. We don’t have much time.”

She gave him her other gun, this one an SMG, hastily passing along ammo with it. Tim, his head clearing, nodded.

“Do you have any grenades?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Already used them. We had to create distractions to get you out.”

He checked the battlefield. Roland, a gash on his head, was helping a dazed Lilith to cover. Axton’s turret had been taken out, but he’d retreated back to the building and was hiding in the doorway to recharge his shield before returning fire.

There had to be someone else waiting inside that building. There was no way they’d leave Axton to defend it alone.

“We can rush him,” Tim said. “He can’t keep all five of us away. But someone, maybe several people, will be waiting inside.”

He hoped Gaige was in there. Maybe he could grab her when he fast traveled.

Maria hit her ECHO again. “Rush in twenty seconds. Keep the doppelganger covered at all times. Expect resistance inside.”

Tim began the countdown as soon as she finished her message. A few seconds early, he and Maria darted out to join the others, and the five stormed at Axton, guns blazing.

He tried to hold them off, but as his shield got dangerously low, he was forced to retreat farther into the building.

They entered, one staying in front of him, two flanking him, and Maria at his back. They kept their guns firing as they pressed forward.

The man next to Tim cried out as a sword pierced through him, someone suddenly appearing behind them.

“The assassin!” Maria cried, pulling Tim away from him.

“Oh, come on, Jack didn’t tell me they had a freaking assassin!” Tim snapped. He was going to have a long talk with Jack when he got back. Probably after Jack finished nearly strangling him to death, though.

The assassin pulled a gun out and shot the other woman in the head. The teenager moved between him and the assassin, firing at him. The assassin disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Maria urged him forward and he pressed on, unsurprised when Axton popped up from behind a crate to fire off shots. He returned fire, but with three on his side, Axton was forced to duck back down.

Something clawed at his back, tearing through his clothes and ripping his skin open. Tim cried out, falling forward on his hands and knees as his two companions yelled and tried to fend off his attacker.

He looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened at the sight of the familiar robot. That was Gaige’s.

It was fighting with the teenager now, but Tim’s eyes darted away from that scene, searching around for sight of Gaige. Maria helped him to his feet and he hissed in pain as blood spilled down his back. He didn’t see her.

Maria shoved him and he stumbled along. He could see the fast travel station. They were so close. Where was Gaige?

Axton sprang forth, a SMG in his hands and firing rapidly. Maria threw herself in front of Tim, and Tim realized her shield wasn’t going to hold.

It broke and she cried out as several bullets hit her. She shoved him roughly and he stumbled away before falling to the ground. His eyes widened and he scrambled back as far as he could.

Still, when the nova blast from her shield went off, he was thrown into the wall, howling in pain as his injured back slammed into it. He grit his teeth, digging his fingers into his thighs and breathing heavily as he waited for the waves of pain to ease.

Axton had been standing much closer, and the blast had left him slumped against the wall, dazed and unarmed. Maria lifted her gun, pointing it at his head.

“Don’t!” Tim choked out. Gaige would never forgive him.

Maria didn’t get the chance to pull the trigger. She leapt to the side, the assassin’s blade piercing her shoulder as he appeared behind her. She yelled as he yanked the blade back and swung again, narrowly missing her as she dropped to the ground. She rolled away from him, getting to her feet and grabbing Tim.

He cursed loudly as she forced him to his feet and dragged him the rest of the way to the fast travel. She pressed at it furiously, shielding him with her body.

“My watch,” he said urgently. “I’m not leaving without-”

“Yes you are!” she snapped.

He looked past her and his eyes immediately fell to the only red in the room that wasn’t blood.

Gaige had entered, Roland at her side. Her robot stood over the now-dead teenager, though it moved back to rejoin her.

She spotted him and her eyes widened. Roland raised his gun.

“Don’t let them escape!” he cried.

“Go! I’ll destroy it so they can’t follow!” Maria said, and hit it one last time before shoving a pack into his hands.

Tim locked eyes with Gaige, reaching out his hand for her. She was so close. If he could just grab her, bring her with him. He could reclaim his watch and find somewhere for her to hide, away from Jack’s wrath.

“No!” he cried as he felt the familiar sensation of his body preparing to fast travel. He stretched his arm farther toward her, took a step in her direction.

And was whisked away.

He reappeared in the sudden silence of the night, somewhere he couldn’t immediately recognize. He dropped to his knees. His body trembled and he gripped the pack tightly.

His back throbbed viciously, wet with sweat and blood. His wrist was bare, no watch. No Jay and Blue.

No Gaige.

He’d escaped, but he’d left everything he wanted to save behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're about halfway through the story now! If you've stuck with it this long, you have no idea how grateful I am ^-^


	11. Chapter 11

Gaige felt frozen as not-Jack reached for her. He was bleeding, his back badly injured. It looked like Deathtrap had mauled him.

“No!” he cried, and disappeared with a flash of blue.

The woman wasted no time in shooting at the fast travel station. Roland opened fire on her, but it didn’t matter.

Zer0 appeared behind her, jamming his sword through her heart. She choked out, blood spraying from her lips, before going still. Zer0 pulled his blade back, and her body hit the floor with a heavy, wet thud.

“She was trying to destroy it so we couldn’t follow,” Roland said, moving forward. “He was badly injured. If we go, we can hunt him down.”

He reached the fast travel station and swore loudly. “Shit! She damaged it.” He grabbed his ECHO. “Tannis, get to the fast travel station, now. I need it fixed.”

Gaige wasn’t even sure Tannis could fix it, but she couldn’t worry about that. She noticed Axton slumped against the wall and ran to him, dropping by his side. She placed a hand on his shoulder and he weakly lifted his head.

“Nova blast,” he said, and coughed. “I was right in front of her when it went off, and my shields were already low.”

“Take him to Zed, get him patched up. The second the fast travel is fixed, we’re going after the doppelganger,” Roland said.

“Your head-” Gaige started.

“Is fine. Go,” Roland said.

Gaige nodded and helped Axton to his feet. She let him lean on him, though he tried not to put too much weight on her.

“Did you get everyone out?” he asked as they left the fast travel station.

“Yea, everyone’s fine. Everyone there, at least,” Gaige said.

As badly as she’d wanted to run right to not-Jack, Roland had sent her to a building the attackers had set on fire. Sanctuary residents were trapped inside, and he ordered her and Deathtrap to get them out. As soon as they were out, Gaige sent Deathtrap on ahead without her, using her health kits on a young girl who’d been burned during the escape.

If she’d just been faster, maybe she could’ve stopped not-Jack from leaving. She knew in her mind that if he’d stayed, they would’ve killed him. But still, she couldn’t help but dread the thought of him escaping just to wind up with an even worse captor.

Handsome Jack.

It was clever, sending people in the form of refugees. They hadn’t even questioned it. An injured family with a baby and two teenagers? What threat could they pose?

But they’d been smart. They’d used Marcus’s weapon machines to arm themselves just before the attack. They caused fires and explosions far away from where not-Jack was held captive to draw their attention away from him.

Gaige figured they’d learned the layout of Sanctuary, and found where not-Jack was being kept when they saw Salvador guarding the building. Salvador had ordered two Crimson Raiders to watch the building when the first explosion went off, running in to see what had happened. It was probably the only reason he’d survived; they would’ve killed him to get to not-Jack.

“Gaige?”

She looked up at Axton. He was still limping from his leg injury, and now this. She curled her hand into a fist and hit him in the shoulder.

“Stop getting hurt. You’re supposed to be a soldier,” she said.

“Beaten but alive,” he said, rubbing his shoulder.

Gaige opened her mouth but was cut off as two flashes of light came from her pocket. She and Axton both stumbled back in alarm as the digi-Jacks appeared.

They had their weapons raised, and pointed them right at Gaige and Axton. When they realized who they were aiming at, they hesitated.

“T-” Jay caught himself. “Jack?”

“Where is he?” Blue demanded, looking around, alarm coming to his face. “Jack?”

“How are you here?” Axton stammered. “I mean…here. Out of the watch. What the hell?”

“What the hell?” Gaige echoed.

“Oh no,” Jay whispered as he took in the smoke rising from where the fires and explosions had been. He looked at Axton’s injured form and groaned. “They came for him, didn’t they?”

“They got him,” Gaige said flatly. “He’s gone.”

“No,” Blue muttered, pacing back and forth. “No, he wouldn’t leave us. He wouldn’t.”

“Well, he’s gone. Whether he wanted to go without you or not,” Gaige said. She couldn’t imagine him willingly leaving them behind, not after the way she’d watched them interact earlier.

“He can’t go back to Jack without us,” Jay said urgently. “He can’t.”

“Especially not after this.” Blue was running his hands through his hair. It was the most human Gaige had seen the two of them act.

“Why not?” she said.

“You don’t understand what he does to him,” Jay stressed.

“Handsome Jack will think he needs to fix him after he spent time around the vault hunters,” Blue said, his voice bitter. “If we’re not there, he’ll be completely alone with Jack’s influence.”

“And Jack’s wrath,” Jay said, sitting on the ground and slumping his shoulders.

“Wait, but how are you here? If he’s not here, you shouldn’t be able to get out of the watch,” Gaige said.

“Handsome Jack released us,” Jay said. “He must’ve seen the fast travel station activity and was hoping we would connect to an ECHO to tell him where we’d landed and what our status was.”

“He released you?” Gaige said in alarm. Could he track them? See this conversation?

“He can’t do anything unless we’re connected to an ECHO,” Blue said, noticing her expression. “All he’s able to do is release us. When we don’t connect to report to him, he’ll know something is wrong.”

“He’ll still find his doppelganger. He’ll take him back to Helios, and then no one will be able to reach him,” Jay said.

“So we have to find him first,” Gaige said. Their expressions were scaring her. Just what would Handsome Jack put not-Jack through when he got his hands on him? “He’s injured pretty badly. Even with a health kit, he won’t make it very far on his own.”

“Gaige,” Axton said, his voice hesitant. “After this? After all this, you still want to help him?”

“He didn’t do this,” Gaige said, gesturing to the destruction in the distance. “They did it to free him. He had to have known we’d kill him for it anyways. You saw him back there, Axton. He tried to step away from the fast travel station.”

“He told that woman not to shoot me,” Axton admitted. “I don’t know why.”

_Because he knows I care about you_, Gaige thought, but didn’t say it aloud. “He’s not Handsome Jack,” she said instead.

“Please, you have to find him before Handsome Jack does,” Jay said, picking his head up.

“No! They’ll kill him!” Blue said.

“We can help him flee. Get away from Handsome Jack and the Crimson Raiders,” Gaige said. “There’s got to be somewhere we can hide him that he’ll be safe.”

“Athena,” Jay said, looking to Blue. “She might shelter him.”

“If you betray him-” Blue started, glaring between her and Axton.

“Shut it, you lameass. I’m not betraying him,” Gaige said. “We’ll hide him somewhere and figure out where to go from there. But first, I need to get Axton to Zed. You can’t be seen.”

“If we go back in the watch, we can’t come back out on our own,” Jay said.

“Then stay out of sight,” Gaige said, marching past them with Axton.

“Do you think he’s okay?” she heard Jay mumbling to Blue.

“Not if Jack has him.” Blue’s voice was grim, and Gaige walked faster.

They had to get to not-Jack before Jack did.

***

Tim had moved away from the fast travel station, though he hadn’t gone far. He had hidden himself between two rocks, out of sight and safe for the moment.

He opened the pack that Maria had given him and groaned. “Shit. Of course. Just the way my freaking life goes.”

There had been health kits in there, but all had broken except for one in the attack. Tim pried it out, hissing as the broken shards cut at his fingers and hand.

He jammed the health kit into his back, desperate for relief. It wasn’t a very strong one, and some of it had spilled out through a crack in the vial, but it should be enough to slow his bleeding.

He emptied the broken vials from the pack and instead put the SMG ammo in there. He pulled the pack back on and touched the ECHO on his waist.

He could call Jack.

Jack would come get him. Jack would make sure his back was healed properly. Jack would stop the vault hunters from chasing him down and killing him.

But then Jack would kill Gaige when they broke into the Bunker.

Tim turned the ECHO off and touched his wrist. What would happen to Jay and Blue? Would Gaige keep them safe?

He laid down, his body sore and his headache starting to creep back in. He wouldn’t make it far on his own. They would come for him, and he was only armed with an SMG.

“Get up, get up, come on,” he muttered to himself, pushing himself to his feet.

He couldn’t hide forever. Either Jack would find him, or the vault hunters would. But he needed to have some kind of a plan for whoever found him first.

He dragged himself along, keeping alert for any beasts or bandits prowling the area. He took stock of his surroundings and groaned.

Of course. The world just freaking hated Timothy Lawrence.

The Wildlife Exploitation Preserve would be just a few miles away from where he currently was. He’d driven along this area enough to know that.

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. This area was heavily populated with Stalkers so he’d have to keep a careful eye out for that. But there were plenty of places to hide himself away, as long as he could avoid the damn Stalkers.

Tim began walking again, feeling exhausted beyond belief. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been held captive for, but they hadn’t fed him much and he hadn’t slept much. He hadn’t realized the toll that had taken on his body until now. His hands shook with hunger and each step felt like a chore, but still he walked on.

He’d been through worse. Hell, he’d survived the whole Space-Hurps ordeal on Helios. He could beat some hunger and sleep-deprivation.

But the wound on his back was not so easy to ignore. The health kit had eased his pain and helped to nearly stop the bleeding, but it was still begging for his attention. He needed to clean and wrap the wounds soon, or they’d get infected.

Tim found another spot to hide away in. What the hell was he doing? He was just delaying the inevitable.

The smart thing to do would be to call Jack. Jack would come get him, give him medical attention and food and a warm bed. Jack would probably punish him for getting caught, but Jack would also take care of him.

But doing that meant losing his watch. It also meant Jack would turn his full attention on the vault hunters, Gaige included.

Tim curled up and closed his eyes as he thought over his options. He couldn’t flee; he’d never make it on his own in this condition. Jack would kill Gaige. The vault hunters would kill Tim.

Something rumbled in his ear and he opened his eyes, realizing he’d fallen asleep. He whimpered as stretching tugged his wounds. He cautiously peeked out of his hiding spot and his face paled.

The vehicle had already passed his hiding place, but he recognized the blue hair of the driver.

Tim ducked back into his hiding spot, fumbling for the gun. Maria must’ve been killed before she could destroy the fast travel station. They knew he was here.

He didn’t know how long he’d slept for. Was this the first time they’d passed his hiding spot? Would they leave the area if there was no sign of him? If they knew he’d been sent here, surely they’d assume he’d gone to the Preserve to reunite with Jack’s people.

The ECHO on his waist came to life, startling him. “Jack?”

The voice was his, lightly distorted, and his heart slammed even as relief claimed him. “Blue? Jay?”

“Jack,” Jay said in relief. “Look, we don’t have much time. The battery is about to run out. Jack summoned us.”

“Finding the ECHO frequency he gave you wasn’t easy, especially with it turned off,” Blue said. “But you need- shit, not now, not n-”

His voice cut off and the ECHO was off again.

“Blue?” Tim said urgently, lifting the ECHO. Shit, shit, shit. Their battery was dead. They’d be forced back into the watch, and they wouldn’t be able to get out on their own.

How had they connected with him? The watch would need to be connected to an ECHO device to let them do that. Had Gaige…?

He didn’t get to finish that thought. Something flashed in front of him, and then a stalker was lunging at him.

It’s claws dug into his shoulder, and Tim cried out. He jammed his gun into the creature’s skull.

“You little shit!” he said, stumbling out of the spot and aiming his gun. The stalker jumped at him again as he fired. “I was already having a really shitty day, so fuck you for that!”

The stalker tried to retreat, but Tim was relentless, firing on the rotten thing until it was well dead. He kicked it angrily, gripping his bloodied shoulder with his free hand.

“Having a bad day?”

Tim cursed and turned, gun raised. Gaige, Axton, and Maya stood before him, all of them aiming guns at him. Gaige’s robot floated next to her and Tim scowled at the damn thing.

“Don’t make this hard,” Maya said.

“You’re killing me one way or another,” he said, not lowering his gun. He could feel the blood from his new wound seeping between his fingers. He was so tired.

“It doesn’t have to go like that,” Gaige said. “You can help us take down Jack.”

“The only help I can offer you is advice. Get the hell off Pandora before he finds you,” Tim said.

“Not an option,” Gaige said. “Stand down, not-Jack.”

The order he gave Jay and Blue. He glanced at her pocket and could just barely make out the watch hidden there. Gaige gave him a slight nod.

“I’m screwed either way,” Tim said. He was having trouble focusing on them, and gripped his gun tighter, willing his body to hang on just a little longer. “Even if I cooperate, you’ll kill me. There’s nothing I can give you if you take me back. Just a corpse.”

“That’s not true,” Gaige said, and he nearly smiled. She was tough, sure, but she was still just a kid. She really believed they would let him live.

He heard the sound of another vehicle from behind him and tensed. But then he saw their reactions, and dread washed over him.

They dove behind cover as gunfire pelted the ground, kicking up dust and dirt. Tim had no energy left in him. He sank to his knees. Let whoever wanted him, have him.

The heavily armored vehicle slid to a stop next to him, five loaders clinging to it. Two more vehicles pulled up alongside it, also with loaders clinging to them.

The door to one of them opened and Tim hung his head.

“Sup,” Handsome Jack said as he exited the vehicle.

The three vault hunters rose from their cover, weapons aimed. All the loaders aimed at them in return.

“See, you took something of mine,” Jack said, pacing over to Tim, his voice cold despite the smile on his face. “I came to get it back.”

“He’s not an ‘it’.” Gaige snapped.

_Just be quiet_, Tim mentally pleaded.

“Up, other-me,” Jack said, kicking at Tim. Tim pressed his hand harder against his wound, hoping the pain would ground him. Jack shook his head, looking furious. “Normally, you break it, you buy it. But I’ll take this one back for repairs.” He hauled Tim to his feet and Tim couldn’t help but lean on Jack for support. Jack seemed devilishly pleased by that, and tightened his hold on Tim.

“You’re not taking him,” Maya snarled.

They were all aiming at Jack, all ready to pull their triggers regardless of the loaders prepared to retaliate. He saw Maya’s finger tighten on the trigger.

Instinct took hold and he gathered the last of his strength, pushing Jack behind him as Maya fired off her shots.

They hit his shield, but the force was enough to send him falling back. Jack caught him, grinning triumphantly at his loyalty.

“Take them alive, if you can. Stick them in the Preserve and I’ll find something to do with them,” Jack ordered as several human employees got out of the vehicles, heavily armed.

Tim could barely walk, but Jack put an arm under him and helped him along to one of the vehicles. “Time to go, other-me.”

“Not-Jack!” Gaige cried, darting out of cover.

No. No, no, no.

“Gaige!” Axton said in alarm.

Tim tried to go back to them. He tried to pull away from Jack.

“So they did get to you, kiddo,” Jack snarled, and tugged him closer. “You’re not going anywhere but with me.”

“No,” Tim whispered.

Jack’s expression was pity, but his eyes were full of rage. “Oh, Timmy. They really got to you, huh?” He slapped Tim on the back, and Tim yelped in pain. “We’ll get you all fixed up, champ. Don’t you worry.”

He looked over his shoulder, and Jack dug his fingers into one of Tim’s wounds. Tim cried out in agony as he felt the wound open and begin bleeding again. He hunched over, trying to drop to his knees to curl up. But Jack kept a firm hold of him, keeping him on his feet and moving along.

They were going to die. There were too many enemies, and he could hear more vehicles approaching. They were going to overwhelm the vault hunters. They were going to catch Gaige, and her crying out to him would put her at the center of Jack’s attention.

But Jack dug his fingers harder into the wound, and Tim curled his fingers, digging his nails into his palms and fighting back his screams. Gunfire burst into life behind them, but Tim couldn’t look back.

Jack dragged him to one of the vehicles, where one of the human workers reached to help him up. Jack grabbed the man’s arm and yanked him out of the vehicle.

“Go get those vault hunters!” he snapped, and helped Tim into the vehicle himself.

Jack slammed the door once he was in and gestured at the driver to get going. Jack kept his fingers on Tim’s wounds, a warning.

The vehicle jerked into life, and Tim slammed his head back against the seat as his wounds bled and his mind whirled. Jack had him back. And soon, Jack would have the vault hunters, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to respond to any comments last chapter but omfg you all made me so happy thank you ;-; I was super nervous about this story but you guys have been so kind! I really appreciate it!


	12. Chapter 12

Tim laid on his side, his back carefully cushioned by a long pillow. He was topless, bandages wrapped around him. Jack told the medical team not to give Tim any health kits until his wounds started to heal on their own, and only to prevent scarring.

They’d tried to offer him food and water. He reluctantly took the water, but as hungry as he was, he’d refused the food. He felt nauseous at the thought of the fate of the vault hunters.

A doctor came in to check his bandages, and pursed his lips at the sight of Tim’s uneaten food. He didn’t speak to Tim; he simply pushed the food closer to him, wrote something on his clipboard, and left.

Tim knew they weren’t allowed to speak to him. He’d been stuck in this room for hours with no one speaking to him. Jack had left him once he was bandaged, saying he needed to go see where “his” vault hunters were at.

Tim felt frustrated and furious. He wasn’t even sure who he was so mad at. Himself? The vault hunters? Jack?

He grabbed the plate of food and flung it with what little strength he had. It shattered against the wall, the food splattering everywhere. He already knew he couldn’t get out of the room, but he forced himself to sit up.

His head swam as he shifted up, but he shook it off. He got off the bed, wincing at the pain in his back.

He clamped his hand over his bare wrist, desperately missing his digital companions. Were they okay? Had the watch been destroyed in the fight? Was it recovered and Jack was just keeping it away from him?

Was Gaige okay?

“Dammit,” he hissed, and slammed a fist against the wall.

The door on the other side of the room slid open. Tim turned as Jack entered the room, his eyes sliding from the mess of food to Tim out of the bed.

He shook his head. “You’re throwing a tantrum, Tim.”

“What happened, Jack? What happened to the vault hunters?” he asked.

“Slag experimentation, baby,” Jack said, beaming. “I’ll let you see them when you’re all healed up. If they’re still alive. Or even if they’re not. I’ll save their bodies for you.”

Tim’s shoulders slumped. No. He got them. It was over.

“Some of them are still running wild, but we’ll lure them in and snag them too,” Jack said, his tone too casual for the situation. Tim felt sick.

Jack came over and Tim flinched as Jack slung an arm around him. Jack dragged him back to the bed and forced him to sit, taking a seat next to him.

“Rest up, Timmy,” Jack said, slapping him on the back and looking satisfied at Tim’s pain.

“Jack, they-” Tim started.

“They kidnapped you,” Jack said, cutting him off. He got up and went over to one of the drawers in the room, yanking it open and taking out a hand mirror. He sat back down next to Tim and gripped Tim’s chin, forcing him to look into the mirror.

Tim’s eyes traced over the scar on his face, his heart sinking. He wanted to tear his face off. He wanted to close his eyes, but he was mesmerized by his own disfigurement.

“Lilith did that to you,” Jack hissed. “To us. Only she blinded my eye. I let you keep yours. I’m not a savage like that filthy bandit.” He pulled the mirror even closer. “Look at what she did to us.”

Tim couldn’t drag his gaze away. The scar tore through his skin, making that damned vault part of him forever.

“They took you. They were going to kill you, and you know it,” Jack said, his voice low and warning. “They murdered our team, Tim. They murdered Wilhelm and Nisha. They were going to murder you, too.”

They were. Tim knew that. But Gaige didn’t want them to.

“What did they do to you, Tim?” Jack asked.

Tim thought of himself hanging over Pandora, and his breathing hitched like it always did when he thought of heights. Jack picked up on it immediately.

“Oh, they found your fear, huh?” he said, laughing. “They exploited it. I tried to help you. And you still want to take their side?”

“They…” Tim swallowed and wet his lips. Jack was right again. But Gaige had stopped them.

“What’d they do, Timmy? Hang you over the side of their little city in the sky? Dangle you over Pandora and wait for you to cough up information?” Jack pressed, a grin spreading on his face. “What’d you tell ‘em?”

“Nothing,” Tim said quietly. “I didn’t tell them anything, Jack.”

Jack seemed pleased at that. “Attaboy.”

Jack didn’t lower the mirror, and Tim couldn’t drag his gaze away from his own face.

_It’s Jack’s face, not yours._

Did it matter anymore? He couldn’t quite picture his old face anymore.

Jack finally took the mirror away and urged Tim to lie back down. But as soon as Tim was on his side, Jack gripped his throat and forced him onto his back, the grip on Tim’s throat too tight for him to cry out in pain.

“How did they get you?” Jack snarled. “You had all the bots at your control. You had weapons. You had your damn digi-Jacks. How the hell did they get you?”

He loosened his grip enough for Tim to speak, but Tim’s mouth had gone dry. He’d been caught because he hesitated.

“Tim,” Jack hissed, squeezing his throat again. “Answer me, before I really get pissed.”

“The Siren,” Tim wheezed out. “She caught me off-guard with her powers. She knocked me out when I couldn’t move.”

He thought of those green eyes, of that girl reaching out to him in her final moments, pleading for his help. Anger surged through him and he gripped Jack’s wrist, yanking his hand away from his throat and forcing himself to sit up. He could feel his wounds tearing back open as he struggled against Jack, but he grit his teeth against the pain. Jack wasn’t haunted by that girl, even though she was dead because of him.

“You’re the one who didn’t tell me her powers,” Tim seethed. “You didn’t tell me shit about those vault hunters. It’s your fault, Jack!” _It’s your fault that girl is dead. It’s our fault. You put her there and I didn’t free her._

And now Gaige was there, in that horrible place. He had to free her.

“My fault?” Jack said, and a black rage claimed his expression as he slammed Tim down on his back, hard enough to make Tim cry out. “You got captured, and I rescued you. You want to blame ME? I don’t abandon my team, kiddo. I look out for my team. If I didn’t, you’d be dead at their hands. They’d throw you right over the edge of Sanctuary and you’d splatter into a pathetic mess all over the ground of this shithole planet. I’m the reason that didn’t happen. I saved you.” He got right in Tim’s face, forcing Tim to meet his eyes. “I. Saved. You.”

Tim squeezed his eyes shut. He pictured Gladstone’s terrified expression right before Jack spaced him and the others. He pictured Felicity begging them to make a copy of her, to not erase her. He pictured the Lost Legion soldier he’d spared, and recalled Jack’s anger. He pictured Jack attacking Claptrap.

“You’re a monster,” Tim whispered, opening his eyes.

Jack closed his hands around Tim’s throat again. “A monster?” His voice trembled with barely contained rage. “You know what a monster does? Fucking slams alien artifacts into the face of the man who just saved the damn moon! I’m a hero. Heroes have to make hard choices and sacrifices sometimes, Timmy. But I still saved you when I didn’t have to.” His expression smoothed out and he leaned back, releasing Tim’s throat. “Remember when they told your mom that you ‘died’? She laughed. Remember that, Tim?”

Tim did remember, and he winced at the memory. He tried so hard not to think about it. He tried to convince himself she cried later, when no one was around to watch her.

“No one else cares about you. Without me, you have no one,” Jack said firmly. “I look out for you. I protect you. I always take care of my team, and you’re part of that team, champ.” He reached out, rolling Tim onto his side and inspected the now blood-stained bandages. He pulled Tim into a sitting position and began to remove the bandages from him.

The fight had drained out of Tim, and he resigned to letting Jack tend to him. Jack removed the bandages and wiped the blood away from Tim’s back, putting pressure on the wounds.

“See? I always look out for my team. You’re supposed to protect me from assassins, but how many times have I saved you?” Jack said. When Tim didn’t answer, he continued speaking. “Remember the one who poisoned you when we were getting work done on Pandora? I saved your life. I risked my life to see what poison was in you. I forced you to throw it up, and got a health kit into you to keep you stable until medical reached you.”

Tim did remember that, though vaguely. Jack couldn’t identify the poison by sight or smell, so he’d forced himself to taste it. It had made him sick for a few days, but he hadn’t ingested nearly enough for it to be life-threatening like it had been for Tim.

Jack began wrapping the bandages around him again. “I’m trying to bring order to Pandora, and they’re trying to stop me. They’re just bandits who don’t want to have order around here. They were using you to get to me. They don’t care about you. No one in this whole galaxy does except for me. You know that, Timmy.”

Tim’s heart ached at Jack’s words, because Jack was right. If he fled from Handsome Jack, who did he have left? His mother laughed when they told her he died. He had no family to return to. He had no friends to go to. Athena would never help him, not after he’d stayed with Jack for so long. And Janey was with Athena now, which meant she wouldn’t help him either.

He had no one.

No one but Jack.

Jack wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pulled him in close. “Now you’re getting it,” he said. “I’ve got your back, Tim. I’m all you’ve got, and I’ll save you every time. You know that.”

He did know that.

Jack eased him back down on the bed, adjusting the pillow to prop Tim up. Jack got up to leave, but Tim reached out and gripped his shirt.

With his back turned to Tim, Jack grinned smugly.

“Need something?” he asked.

Tim did not want to be alone, but he couldn’t bring himself to admit it. Jack finally turned and sat back on the bed at his side.

“Get some rest. Big things coming up soon. I’ll stay right here,” Jack said.

Tim slowly released his shirt and closed his eyes. He didn’t want to think anymore. He didn’t want to remember Gaige defending him, or Jack trying to choke him. He didn’t want to think about the past and all the things he’d done on Elpis.

Maybe Jack was a monster. But if Tim had aided Jack, then what did that make him?

He’d think on it later. He wiped his thoughts, feeling the bed move as Jack shifted into a more comfortable position on it.

He wasn’t alone. That was all that mattered.

***

“Tim.”

Tim stirred but did not open his eyes. He still felt so tired, so weak.

“Tiiiiiiiim. Up.”

He was jabbed in the side, making him jump in surprise. He narrowed his eyes at Jack before rubbing the sleep from them.

“What?” he mumbled, voice thick with sleep.

“You need to eat,” Jack said, dragging a table up to the side of the bed, a tray of food on it. “Don’t be stubborn.”

His stomach churned at the thought of putting food into it. He shook his head.

“I’m not hungry,” he said.

“Tim.” Jack’s voice had taken on that warning tone of his. “Eat the damn food.”

Tim didn’t want to anger Jack any further, so he reluctantly sat up. He swayed, his head suddenly light. Jack steadied him with a hand on his shoulder.

“See? You need food,” Jack said.

Tim looked over the tray and was relieved to see some soup on there. He might be able to keep down something light.

He began to spoon the soup into his mouth, slowly. Jack crossed his arms as he watched him.

“So, what did they want to know?” he asked.

Tim swallowed hard. If he told Jack about the Bunker, Jack would tighten the security even more.

But what did it matter? He already had Gaige.

Still, Tim did not mention that. “They wanted to know your plans, and if you were going to attack Sanctuary again. They wanted to know about the vault key and the Angel. I didn’t tell them anything. I swear.”

“And the height thing?” he asked.

Tim looked away in shame, fear suddenly clawing at him. Would Jack try to correct him again? He didn’t think he could handle it, not after what happened on Sanctuary.

His breathing hitched and he set the soup down with trembling hands. Jack clamped a rough grip onto both of his wrists to hold them still, and forced Tim to look into his eyes.

“Timmy, tell me what they did,” he said.

“Maya…” Tim’s voice shook but he couldn’t calm himself. “She, uh, her powers…they…”

“She suspended you over the edge of Sanctuary?” Jack guessed.

Tim curled his hands into fists and tried to focus on the tray of food as he nodded. Jack yanked his arms, pulling Tim’s attention back to him.

“We’ll get them back, don’t you worry,” Jack said.

They would. Jack wouldn’t let them get away with hurting him. Jack would protect him.

Jack watched as Tim unconsciously shifted closer to him, feeling triumphant. They might’ve taken his doppelganger and started to pull him to their side, but Jack got to him in time.

He was furious, sure. But he knew how to work Tim, and anger would only push him away more right now. He needed to comfort Tim, remind him that Jack was the only one he could rely on. He needed to make Tim feel safe with him.

The punishments would come later. And, oh, did Jack have some ideas. Starting with the obnoxious fear of heights. He’d have to try to fix that again.

But for now, he allowed Tim to cling to him, lonely and loyal. Jack had taken everything from Tim and then slowly given it back like a savior. Tim was his. Jack knew how to break him and control him just right.

“Where’s your watch?” Jack asked.

Tim reached down and touched his bare wrist. “Gone,” he whispered. “I couldn’t get it back when they broke me out.”

“It’s useless to them,” Jack said dismissively. “I’ll have a new one made for you. This time the digi-Jacks will actually look like us.”

Tim didn’t want a new watch, or digi-Jacks that looked like them. He wanted Blue and Jay back.

Had Jack not found the watch on Gaige? Had she lost it in the battle, or hidden it away when they captured her?

He had to go to the Preserve and see her. He had to know, had to try and help her. He wouldn’t let her die in there, spasms claiming her as she reached out desperately for help that would never come.

Tim reached out and grabbed the food again. His quickest way out of here would be to obey Jack, to please him.

Sure enough, Jack seemed satisfied as Tim forced himself to eat the more solid foods on the tray. He ate until he couldn’t stomach anymore, and then laid back down on the bed.

Jack checked the time. “I have a meeting to get to. Rest up, Timmy. I’ll be back.”

Tim watched him go. As the door closed and left him alone again, he clutched his bare wrist. He wanted his friends back. He didn’t want to be alone right now with his thoughts.

He closed his eyes and tried to sleep. But instead, his mind would not quiet.

He thought of the video Jack had shown him of them telling his mother he’d died. An accident, they’d told her. The body couldn’t be recovered. Tim had waited for the tears, and hid his hurt at the laughter that came instead. He told himself she was just in shock. He was a failure, sure, but he was still her son. He tried to convince himself that when they were gone, she cried in solitude. But sometimes he doubted his own thoughts on that matter.

Jack had pat him on the back and told him family didn’t mean shit. He’d told Tim that he’d pulled himself to power without any family support, and he’d help Tim do the same.

Tim opened his eyes. “Shit, shit, shit,” he hissed, tugging at his own hair. “Stop thinking.”

He climbed out of the bed. He needed to leave this room, but he knew they wouldn’t open the door for him. So, he’d just have to get creative.

He knew by now they were monitoring him somehow, though he didn’t see a camera anywhere. So he positioned himself on the floor, biting his lip hard as pain tore through his back, and began to do sit-ups.

The wounds on his back reopened as he forced his body to move. He just needed someone to open the door to stop him. Then he could escape this damned place and his damned thoughts.

Sure enough, the door opened and a doctor rushed in. “Sir, your wounds!” he cried in alarm. His wellbeing was most likely tied to Tim’s.

Tim stopped and slowly got to his feet, fighting through the pain rolling through him. He approached the frightened doctor and turned so the man could examine his back.

“Is it bad?” he asked.

“Yes, it-”

The doctor didn’t get to finish speaking. Tim jammed his elbow into the man’s gut, spun around, and gripped his shoulders. He pulled the doctor down, cracking his knee to the man’s skull and letting the unconscious body drop to the ground, rushing out the door before they could close it on him.

A surprised guard reached for the taser on his belt as Tim burst into the hallway. Tim jumped forward and slammed the man’s head into the wall, taking the gun from his holster and whipping him in the head with it.

He ran along the hallway as the alarm blared to life overhead. Blood soaked his bandages, but he kept moving. He’d drive himself crazy sitting in that room with his thoughts.

So Tim wiped his mind and focused on his escape. Two guards ran out, but they were armed with tasers. Whether they knew he was the doppelganger, or thought he was the actual Jack, it was suicide to harm him.

Tim swiftly shot each of them, knowing Jack would kill them anyways for seeing his face unmasked.

He continued along, dashing through a side exit. Sweat dripped down his face as his back screamed for relief, but he kept his feet moving, even as his legs trembled from the pain and exhaustion.

A nurse yelled in fear as he nearly ran into her. He pointed the gun at her with one hand and held out his other.

“Health kits,” he snarled.

She fumbled to pull them out of the pouch on her hip, and once they were in his hands, he reached for the trigger.

_It’s a mercy. Jack will make her suffer._

_She didn’t do anything wrong. Let her go. Jack doesn’t have to know._

Tim hesitated long enough for tears to come to her eyes. “Please,” she whispered, raising her hands in compliance. “Please, I have a son.”

Tim wondered if she’d laugh if that son died.

“Go,” he snapped, and cursed at his own weakness and hesitation.

She sobbed as she fled from him, and Tim wondered if Jack would kill her and her son when he found out she’d seen Tim unmasked. But it was done and over, so Tim jammed two health kits into his back, pocketed the rest, and moved along.

The alarm snapped off and Tim hid himself in the stairwell, under the ground flight of stairs. He knew what that meant.

He took the health kits from his pocket and stuck one more in his back, hoping the wound was fresh enough for the kits to be effective. He gripped his gun tighter and listened hard. It was just a matter of time.

It was a few tense minutes before the door to the stairwell swung open. Tim readied himself.

His heart sank as he heard a woman sniffle. “He…He came this way, sir.”

“Oh, Tim!” Jack called out, his voice joyful. “Timmy, come on out before I get angry.”

Tim didn’t move.

He heard the footsteps getting closer, and raised his gun. Jack came into view, his hand curled around the arm of the nurse who’d given him the health kits.

“Look at you,” Jack said, shaking his head. “Like a cornered freaking animal. Get up. Put that gun down before you hurt yourself.”

Tim stood up and lowered the gun. He pulled a health kit from his pocket, met Jack’s eyes, and stuck it in his back.

“How many?” Jack hissed.

“Four,” Tim said. “I feel fan-freaking-tastic, cupcake.”

Jack shoved the woman forward. “You missed one.”

“No,” she choked out. “Please, don’t.”

“Take care of her or I will,” Jack warned. He pat the woman’s shoulder. “He brought your death right to you, sweetheart. Bad luck for you.”

“Please, my son,” she cried. “He’s just a little boy. He already lost his father. Please don’t do this.”

Jack would kill the son first, while she watched. Tim didn’t think she’d laugh.

So he raised the gun, and pulled the trigger, watching her body thump to the floor as blood and brain and skull splattered at Jack’s feet.

“Quite a show,” Jack said, crossing his arms. “I had to cancel my meeting to come get you before you slaughtered my medical staff. You’re not making me very happy today, Tim. Give me the gun.”

Tim looked down at it. “No. The health kits helped. I can get back to work. I’m not lying in a hospital bed for weeks. I want to get back to work.”

He wanted to get to the Preserve.

Jack narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “You’re going to do whatever the hell I goddamn tell you to do.”

“It’s a waste to keep me locked up here! I could be out there helping you take down the bandits.” He curled his hands into fists. He had to convince Jack. “You’re right, Jack. They were going to kill me. I want that Siren bitch. I want to dangle her over Pandora and drop her from the edges of Sanctuary. I want to get my watch back and let the digi-Jacks laser those bandits’ limbs off their freaking bodies. I want revenge.”

Sometimes it scared him how easily he could slip into Handsome Jack’s mind. But he didn’t think about it. Not now.

Jack crossed his arms. “You’re going back in that room.”

“I’m going to find those filthy bandits,” Tim spat.

Jack groaned. “You’re a pain in the ass, you know that? You’re going to be a good little body double and get back in that room. If you behave, and if shooting yourself up with health kits fixed your back, maybe I’ll send you back out tomorrow.”

Tim knew Jack was really just trying to see if he was still loyal. If he really wanted to kill the vault hunters, or just get back to them.

“Fine,” Tim said, tossing the gun to Jack. “Get me a new mask. And new pants. I got blood on mine.”

He stepped over the nurse’s body without looking at it. She’d never have to watch her son grow into a failure or a monster. Maybe that was a mercy in itself.

Jack followed Tim back up to the room, making sure he actually went inside. Tim began to strip the bandages off and Jack leaned against the wall.

“I’m going to start experimenting on those vault hunters in the morning,” he said.

“Start with Maya,” Tim said as he inspected his healing wounds in the mirror. He hadn’t treated the wound in time to completely fix it, but the health kits had managed to reduce its severity enough for him to move around more comfortably. He gathered bandages and began to wrap himself again.

Jack came over and shoved his hands away, dressing Tim’s wounds himself. “The girl. I’m thinking of keeping her on a low dose of slag. See how long she can survive with it in her veins.”

“Slag her robot while you’re at it. It tore my back open,” Tim said, showing no emotion despite the sudden racing of his heart.

Jack finished tending to his wound and went to one of the drawers. He pulled out a clean pair of the hospital issued pants, throwing them to Tim.

“Rest up, and don’t murder anymore of my staff you asshole. I’ll come back in the morning,” Jack said, leaving the room and closing the door.

Tim changed into the new pants and laid back on the bed. The silence was torture, but he busied his mind with running through the layout of the Preserve. If he fast traveled there, he wouldn’t have much time before Jack realized what he was doing and sent someone to stop him. He’d have to get Gaige out fast.

So he spent the night running through plan after plan, making backups and running through all the security and creatures kept at the facility. He let his mind focus on nothing but his plans to rescue Gaige, until he finally fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully this isn't too much of a cliffhanger to leave you with until Monday! ;)


	13. Chapter 13

When they brought Tim his breakfast, he ate all of it. He carefully did push-ups on the floor, testing his back. It was still sore, and he hadn’t gotten the health kits into it fast enough to completely heal the wound, but it was much better. He’d be able to fight again.

He’d come up with a variety of plans, leaving flexibility in each for when something would inevitably go wrong. Jack would no doubt be monitoring the fast travel network, paranoid that Tim would head there. Tim would only have a limited amount of time to get to Gaige and get her out.

But the employees there didn’t know about the doppelganger, which Tim could use to his advantage. He’d pose as the real Jack, wanting to see his prisoners and wanting to have Gaige moved somewhere else. Then he’d just kill whoever was with him and get her out.

He doubted she’d leave without her friends, but if he had to, he could probably free them all at once and let them fend for themselves. He really hoped he didn’t have to do that. It sounded like such a headache.

The door opened and Jack came strolling in. He eyed Tim’s empty food tray and gestured at Tim to turn around. Tim obeyed, and Jack pried the bandages off of him.

“Better,” he said, slapping at them to see Tim’s reaction.

Tim glared over his shoulder. “Cut it out, jackass.”

“You know I hate when you call me that,” Jack said, without much malice. He wrapped Tim in fresh bandages and tossed a shirt onto his lap. “Alright, let’s go. I don’t trust you here another day. I’ll have to hire all new medical staff.”

Tim pulled his shirt on. He moved in front of Jack, putting a hand on his chest before he could move for the door. Tim pointed to his exposed face.

Jack’s lips curled into that satisfied grin of his, just as Tim had been hoping. He handed Tim the all too familiar mask.

Tim placed it over his face, once again becoming Handsome Jack.

The duo left together, the halls empty. Jack led Tim out of the medical wing and they walked along the hallways until they reached Tim’s apartment. Jack unlocked the door and the two went inside together.

“Don’t tell me you moved me from one prison to another?” Tim said, narrowing his eyes.

“Okay, then I won’t tell you that,” Jack said, heading over to the counter in the kitchen. He lifted a stack of papers and pushed them into Tim’s arms. “Paperwork while you finish recovering. I’ll handle the vault hunters for now.”

Tim threw the papers to the ground. “Fuck that, they kept me captive. I should be the one to deal with them.”

“Tim,” Jack said, his voice dropping to a warning tone. “Pick up the freaking papers. I want that work done by the end of the day.”

Tim didn’t move, just stared stubbornly at Jack. The longer he was stuck here, the more time he wasted in saving Gaige. “Let me help you take those bandits out, Jack.”

“They took you out when you were healthy and prepared. I’m not sending you back out there just yet. You failed me, Tim,” Jack said, and Tim flicked his gaze away. Jack let his words settle in before speaking again. “You failed me. So now you’re going to pay for that. Do the freaking paper work.”

Tim slowly knelt down, gathering the papers back into his arms. He was disgruntled but unsurprised when Jack’s foot connected roughly with his stomach, causing him to bend over and cough for air.

Jack slammed a foot down on his back and Tim winced, grateful for those four health kits. “Do you even know what it took to get you back here, Tim? I wouldn’t do that for just anyone. Don’t get ungrateful on me, kiddo.”

“I’m not ungrateful, I’m angry,” Tim said. “I want revenge, and you want me to do paperwork.”

Jack tapped his foot on Tim’s back thoughtfully. He bent down, gripping a handful of Tim’s hair and forcing Tim to meet his eyes. “Do the damn paperwork, other-me.”

“Yea, it’ll be done,” Tim grumbled, getting to his feet. “Jackass.”

Jack ignored that and casually strolled to the door. “I’ll be back later. You better have made a significant dent in that paperwork.”

The door shut behind him and Tim didn’t bother checking it; he knew it’d be locked from the outside. Jack still didn’t trust him not to go back to the vault hunters.

Tim set the papers down and sat on the couch, fixing his hair. This was not the worst-case scenario, because Jack had forgotten one crucial thing.

Tim had a spare ECHO device in his room.

After checking the time, Tim turned to the paperwork and began to go through it. He signed where he needed to, made corrections and adjustments as he needed to. He let himself focus on the work instead of getting impatient.

Once two hours had passed, Tim got up and retreated to the bedroom, opening his closet and digging around until he found the ECHO device. He turned it on and sat on the bed, thinking of who the safest person to call would be.

He settled for the man in charge of security’s rotations. He connected to the frequency and waited for the man to answer.

“This is Erikson,” the man answered.

“Send someone to apartment A2,” Tim said, commanding his voice to sound like Jack’s playful yet threatening tone. “The goddamn door malfunctioned and locked me inside. And send a report to Meg to get someone to freaking fix it. Oh, and Erikson, this never happened.”

“Yes, sir. Right away, Handsome Jack,” Erikson answered.

Tim disconnected the call, changed out of the hospital clothes, and went out to the door, waiting for it to open. It was only about three minutes before it opened, a security guard standing there.

“We’ve sent a report to have the door fixed, sir,” he said.

Tim held his hand out. “Give me your gun.”

The man didn’t question or hesitate. He unholstered his gun and placed it in Tim’s waiting palm, a tense set to his back as he waited to see what Tim would do.

Tim casually swung the gun in his direction. “Go. This didn’t happen.”

The man bowed his head. “Have a nice day, sir.”

Tim hurried along the hallways once he was out of sight. Hopefully Jack was busy in a meeting and wouldn’t be able to monitor the fast travel network.

Tim arrived at the fast travel station and entered his coordinates for the facility. He holstered the gun and took a deep breath before sending himself away from Helios.

He appeared inside the Preserve, and a startled secretary stood up. “Handsome Jack, sir. What can we do for you?”

“I forgot my access card, sweetheart. Give me one with the highest authorization, will you?” he said, smiling pleasantly and holding out an expectant hand.

“Right away, sir,” she said, sitting back down and entering a code into a safe under her desk. She passed him a card. “That’ll get you into all areas of the facility. Your biosignature is entered into all scanners. Would you like one of the scientists or assistants to accompany you?”

“Nope,” Tim said, eager to get through the building. “Let’s keep this a surprise, huh?”

“Of course,” she said.

Tim headed through the door. A few workers were walking about, and seemed startled at his sudden appearance. They scurried along to their work, not wanting to be caught idle.

Tim ignored them and walked quickly through the facility, deeper and deeper into its confines. He reached one of the most secure sections and reached for the card in his pocket.

“Handsome Jack, sir?”

He looked over his shoulder at one of the scientists. The man walked towards him, and Tim couldn’t remember his name but he recognized the face. That meant he’d been around long enough for Tim to see multiple times. Must be important.

“Sir, are you here to check the progress of this section? I’m afraid we had no injections planned here for the day. We’re studying the after effects of yesterdays injections,” he said.

Tim’s heart stuttered. Yesterday’s injections? Had they already started experimenting on Gaige and her friends?

“That’s what I’m here to see,” Tim lied.

“I’ll accompany you, sir,” he said, moving past Tim to open the door. “I actually have some data to give to you about the recent experiments. I wasn’t aware you were coming today or I would’ve had it with me.”

He led Tim through the doors and Tim had to suppress a shudder as he recognized where they were. Green eyes flashed in his mind and he dug his nails into his palms to steady himself.

They reached an all too familiar enclosure, and Tim wondered what they’d done with that girl’s body after she died in there. Two men who looked to be in their early twenties were lying on the ground, one of them groaning and clawing at his stomach. The other simply watched with bloodshot eyes.

But they weren’t the vault hunters.

“This is great and all, but I’m more interested in the vault hunters,” Tim said.

“The vault hunters?” the man said in confusion. “I apologize, sir. I don’t follow.”

“The vault hunters we sent here,” Tim said.

The man seemed baffled by that. “Sir? No vault hunters were sent here. I’m in charge of this department. I’d know if we had anything like that.”

Tim stared at him, unable to speak. No vault hunters?

“Oh, Timmy, you thought you were so smart.”

Tim startled and looked over at Jack. He was sitting in the corner of the room on a chair, feet propped up as he flipped through some papers on a clipboard.

“See, kiddo, I came here today to prepare for the vault hunters,” Jack said, standing up. “I was just waiting for our man here to show up so I could talk to him about it.”

The man looked between the two and pursed his lips, but wisely remained silent.

Jack tossed the clipboard aside and strode forward. He grabbed Tim’s shoulders and slammed him up against the glass, getting right in his face. He gestured at the man to leave, and he obeyed quickly.

“They did get to you,” he seethed. “I knew it. I freaking knew it. Now I have to fix you again, Timmy.”

“Where are they?” Tim demanded.

“Running free, for now. But we’ve got all the fast travel stations on Pandora heavily guarded. They’re not making it back to Sanctuary. It’s just a matter of time until we round them up,” Jack said.

He’d never had them. He’d lied.

Jack dug his fingers into Tim’s shoulders, hard enough to bruise. “After EVERYTHING I’ve done for you, you tried to betray me. You of all freaking people.”

Tim couldn’t meet Jack’s eyes.

Jack’s rage was growing by the moment. He roughly shook Tim, grabbing his hair and slamming his head against the glass. “We’ll get you fixed up in no time, Timmy. I think I know just the thing.” He hit his ECHO. “I want my doppelganger locked up in here.”

Tim’s eyes widened. He pictured that spasming girl, could hear her voice echoing in his mind. He couldn’t go in there, not the place where she’d died reaching for him.

“Jack, please,” he whispered. “Don’t do this.”

“Don’t do this,” Jack mocked. He lightly slapped Tim’s cheek a few times. “It’ll be good for ya, Tim. Trust me.”

The door slid open and the man came inside followed by two loader bots. Tim unholstered his gun, but Jack slammed his wrist into the glass hard enough that Tim winced.

“Drop the gun,” Jack snarled.

Tim did not obey. He tried to raise it towards the man.

Jack gripped Tim’s wrist and slammed it against the glass, and this time Tim howled with rage and pain as he felt it break. The gun fell from his hand, and Jack’s hand curled around his throat.

“You’re going in there until you remember how to behave,” Jack said. “You were supposed to be loyal to ME, not them. Oh, shit, you screwed up big time, champ. But we’ll get it all settled. I’ll be sure to lock your friends in with you. You can hold them while they die.”

The loaders gripped Tim. He tried to fight back, but his broken wrist and lack of weapons made it nearly impossible. The bots dragged him around through a side door, the man and Jack following. The man entered a code, and scanned both his palm and his eye before a door slid open. Tim was tossed inside and the door slammed before he could get back to his feet.

It was a few moments before Jack and the man appeared on the other side of the glass. Jack leaned against it casually.

“I have some experiments of my own in mind for you, Timmy. We’ll talk again when you’re ready to be more cooperative,” Jack said.

“Jack,” Tim cried, voice hoarse with fear. The enclosure smelled like pure death and decay, and he gagged. “Jack, don’t do this. Please. I’m sorry!”

“Sorry is just a word people say when they don’t want to face consequences. Enjoy your time off,” Jack said, and left the room without looking back.

Tim curled up on the slag-covered ground, body trembling as he listened to the groaning man near him. He could still see that girl spasming, reaching for him, pleading for help. He recalled her throwing up and rolling into it. He pictured her slag-infested veins and her bloodshot eyes.

Tim cried out as he pressed onto his broken wrist, desperate for anything to overcome his memories, even pain. He didn’t know what terrified him more; being in here with the memories of the dead girl haunting him, or not knowing what Jack was going to do to him here.

So he pressed harder on his wrist, and his cries mingled with the groans of the dying man beside him.

***

“Here.”

Gaige looked up as Axton offered her a piece of cooked skag meat. They’d taken refuge in a cave, hunting skag to preserve their rations.

“I’m not hungry,” she said, but took it anyways and bit into it. She knew she needed the strength.

Maya was sleeping off to the side. She was exhausted from using her powers so much during their fight against Jack’s forces. The trio had barely managed to escape, and only Axton’s tactical military training had allowed them to hide and ambush their enemies to gain an advantage.

They hadn’t been able to regroup with the others yet, but Angel had managed to warn them that Jack had sent hordes of loader bots to guard the fast travel stations, ready to deploy his men to any spot they appeared at. Jack was determined to capture them.

She wondered how not-Jack was. She’d asked Angel to give her an update on him when she could, but so far, she hadn’t heard anything.

She pulled his watch out of her pocket and ran her fingers over the interface. She’d tried to warn not-Jack that Jack was looking for him, but the battery had run out before they could give him their messages.

She couldn’t stop picturing not-Jack turning towards them, pain exploding on his face as Jack tore his wounds back open.

“We need to stop Jack,” Gaige said, angrily biting off another piece of skag meat.

“We need to get back to Sanctuary, first,” Axton reminded. “Roland said he’s working on it. They’re trying to gather enough Eridium to have Lilith transport us all back, but it’s exhausting on her.”

“We should just attack one of the fast travel stations! We could catch them off guard,” Gaige said.

“We don’t have a lot of health kits if something goes wrong. We’re lucky we got away from that battle without any serious injuries,” Axton said, and Gaige hated when he was actually logical. But he was looking at Maya, and her exhausted form was probably the only thing keeping him from his usual eager to fight self.

“Gaige?”

Gaige scrambled for her ECHO, placing it between her and Axton so they could both hear. Angel had taken to calling them through the ECHO for the ease of everyone being in on the conversation.

“Angel? What’s going on?” Gaige asked. “Where’s not-Jack?”

“Jack tricked him. He told not-Jack that he had you and your friends captive at the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve for experimentation,” she said.

“And?” Gaige pressed anxiously. She could hear the hesitation in Angel’s voice.

“And not-Jack went there with the intent to free you,” Angel said. “By doing so, he showed he was not completely loyal to Jack. Jack has him locked up there now.”

“Son of a bitch,” Gaige said, picking up a nearby rock and chucking it at the cave wall. “Is he okay?”

“No,” Angel said simply. “He’s already been there for several hours. Jack has started on his latest brand of torture for him.”

Gaige swallowed. “What do you mean?”

“Injections,” Angel said, and Gaige’s stomach churned at the thought. “Jack plans to mentally and physically break him, and then build him back up again. It’s how he always corrects the doppelganger when his loyalty comes into question. But this time, he’s taking the torture up to break him completely down.”

“He’s insane,” Axton said quietly.

“We need to go break him out,” Gaige said.

“Are you crazy? Gaige, there are three of us,” Axton said, gesturing to the sleeping Maya. “Maya’s exhausted. We’ll never take out the whole facility like this. And we can’t risk contacting the others in case Jack’s listening in.”

“He can’t listen in on our conversations,” Angel assured them. “But he might be able to hear your other conversations if he hacks the frequency. It’d be smarter not to give away your location or any plans.”

“Axton, not-Jack got caught there because he went to rescue US,” Gaige reminded. “We can’t just leave him there.”

“We don’t have the manpower to get him out,” Axton said.

Gaige was about to admit he was right, but then paused. She yanked not-Jack’s watch out of her pocket.

“Angel, if I connect his digistructs watch to the ECHO, would you be able to hack into it so I could summon them?” she asked.

“Possibly. We can try,” Angel said.

Gaige connected the device, waiting impatiently as Angel grew silent to focus. If they could use the digi-Jacks, they’d have five fighters, and two of them wouldn’t risk any injuries.

“Got it,” Angel said triumphantly. But then her voice grew cautious. “I gave you access, but I can’t give you control. Jack put firewalls specifically designed to keep me out on certain parts of the code. They don’t have to obey you.”

“Then it’s too risky,” Axton said.

“No, it’s not. They don’t want not-Jack to fall into Jack’s hands,” Gaige said. “They’ll help us.”

“Jack commissioned a new watch for his doppelganger. He believes the current watch either destroyed or useless at your hands. If he discovers you have it, he can force the digi-Jacks back into the watch,” Angel warned.

“I can’t see a single flaw in this plan. Not one,” Axton groaned.

“If you connect the watch to the security system, they’ll be able to give you access to the doors inside the facility,” Angel said. “But he’s still guarding fast travel stations.”

“Not the Catch-A-Ride stations,” Gaige said, strapping the watch to her wrist. “Thanks, Angel.”

“I have to go now. Good luck, friends,” Angel said, and disconnected.

“I don’t like this,” Axton said as Gaige eyed the watch.

“And I don’t like your ex-wife,” Gaige said, and swiped the interface.

Blue and red figures formed in front of her. They looked around for any sign of their owner, looking baffled when they saw none.

“I can summon you now,” Gaige explained, holding up her wrist so they could see the watch. “Don’t ask how. Long story. Not actually. I just don’t even know how to explain it.”

“Where is he?” Blue said.

“Captive at the Preserve,” Gaige said.

“No,” Jay said, eyes widening. “He can’t handle that. Not mentally.”

“That place is shitty,” Axton said, shaking his head.

“You don’t understand,” Jay said. “All of this, this whole mess, is because of what he saw there.”

“Jay,” Blue warned.

Jay ignored him and looked to Gaige. “We need to get him out of there. He won’t make it through that. If he’s there too long, he’ll be Jack’s for good. He’ll be too scared of going back there to ever disobey Jack again.”

“We need to let Maya rest before we make any moves,” Axton said.

“I know,” Gaige said, looking to their exhausted friend. They’d need her for this fight. Plus, she’d earned the rest. She turned her gaze back to the anxious digi-Jacks. “Are you two willing to help us? You know, without killing us?”

“If you’re planning to get him out of there, we’re planning to help,” Jay said, straightening up, his badass form suddenly a lot more threatening than usual. “You’re safe from us, as long as you don’t betray him.”

“Ditto,” Blue said, and he wasn’t as imposing, but he certainly looked dangerous in the moment.

Jay held his hand out and a map appeared over it. “I have the layout of the facility. I’d assume he’s being held here, in the highest security chamber.”

Gaige leaned forward and began to plan a route with the two digistructs. Axton paid careful attention, his military training kicking in as he offered backup plans in case routes were blocked or they met with resistance.

It was a waiting game now. They needed Maya to rest and recover from the previous battle, and then it was time to go save not-Jack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next section of the story was probably the most fun yet nerve-wracking to write, so I'm excited to give you the next update on Wednesday!


	14. Chapter 14

Tim’s arms bled from where he’d dug his nails into the skin, trying to cling to some sense of sanity. He couldn’t stop picturing that dying girl, and his body jerked every time he felt like she was touching him.

The other man in the enclosure had vomited puke mingled with slag, and was now weeping loudly as he laid next to it. The other one was still groaning, rocking side to side with his arms wrapped around his stomach.

It was driving Tim crazy to endure it.

The door suddenly slid open and he looked up as a man in a hazmat suit came in, flanked by two loaders. Tim’s eyes widened and he tried to get up, to get away.

But fear had made him sloppy, and he stumbled. The loaders gripped him tightly, and Tim turned his head, searching for any sign of Jack.

There was no one watching through the glass.

“Get away from me,” Tim commanded, retreating as far back into his Handsome Jack façade as he could.

It was enough to make the man hesitate. But he shook it off and advanced at him, producing a needle.

The content of the vile was purple.

Tim struggled fiercely, but the man gripped his broken wrist and gave a savage pull on it. Tim snarled, trying to lash out. He was going to kill that bastard. Strangle the life out of him.

“Don’t you fucking dare!” he snapped as the man raised the needle and straightened out Tim’s arm.

“Struggling will only make it worse. I might miss the vein,” he said, voice emotionless.

Tim didn’t heed his advice, but the loaders held him as still as they could despite his attempts to slip free. Panic washed over him as the needle came ever closer to his skin.

“Jack!” he cried out as it was jabbed into his skin. “Jack! Oh, you fuck, you fucking asshole, Jack and I are going to kill you for this. He wouldn’t let you experiment on me! He wouldn’t!”

The man ignored him as he emptied the contents of the vile into Tim’s arm. Tim’s body shuddered as he felt it slip into his veins, a sickeningly warm sensation in his arm. His stomach churned and he stared at his arm in horror.

The man retreated through the door, the loaders releasing Tim to follow him. Tim’s legs gave out and he fell to the ground, staring at his arm, unable to pull his eyes away from the purple-tinted injection site.

He looked to the two men, weeping and groaning, who laid around him. He thought of that young girl spasming into her own vomit.

His breathing became unstable.

“No, no, no,” he whispered, cradling his arm against his chest, careful of his wrist. “Jack wouldn’t. He wouldn’t.”

But Jack wasn’t here.

***

The first injection caused nausea, sweating, and muscle aches.

The second caused him to vomit multiple times, his sick tinted as purple as his veins were becoming.

The third had him curled up, clawing at his own skin as it burned. His body twitched uncontrollably, vision blurring in and out.

The fourth sent his body spasming, pain roaring through him with every uncontrollable jerk of his limbs.

By the fifth, he was in too much confused pain to scream.

Tim laid now, dry heaving and jerking viciously on the ground. They’d come and inject him again, it was just a matter of time. He didn’t know how often they’d been injecting him. Maybe every hour?

It was hard to think clearly.

He saw green eyes. A hand reaching for him. Red hair. Red and blue silhouettes. His mother. A blurry face with freckles.

The door slid open and Tim tried to drag himself as far away as possible. A loader grabbed him and pulled him to his trembling legs. It forced his arm out.

Tim gave a hoarse cry as the man in front of him produced a purple vial. Tim didn’t have the energy to fight back, but he tried.

His weak struggles only resulted in a dizziness so severe he wondered if he’d lose consciousness. The loader held him upright as the world spun before his vision settled on the needle moving towards his arm.

“Stop!” he pleaded.

The man continued to move the needle towards his raw arm.

“STOP.”

It was his voice, booming and terrifying, but it didn’t come from his throat.

The man with the needle froze, horror coming to his face. “Handsome Jack, sir.”

Jack slammed a fist against the glass. “What the hell are you doing to him?” he snarled.

“I, um, my instructions were…” the man trailed off, looking unsure.

“I’m coming in there,” Jack snapped.

A few moments later, the door opened and Jack strode in. He snatched the vial from the man, and jabbed it into the man’s neck.

The man cried out, fumbling to yank the needle out of his neck as he dropped to his knees. Jack hooked an arm around his throat and yanked him back to his feet.

“How many?” he asked, his voice low and dangerous.

“Just…five…” he wheezed.

“Five, huh?” Jack said, and shoved the man at the loaders. “Lock him in the closest enclosure. I’ll deal with him when I’m done here.”

“No! Please!” the man protested.

The loaders released Tim, who collapsed to the ground. They lifted the protesting man and dragged him out of the enclosure.

Jack dropped to Tim’s side and gathered his feverish body into his arms. Tim’s head dropped onto Jack’s shoulder and he grabbed weakly at Jack’s shirt.

“You…didn’t…know?” Tim wheezed out.

“No,” Jack said darkly. “I wouldn’t do this to you, Timmy. You know that, right? You know I always protect you.”

Tim couldn’t bring himself to speak. He nodded and curled closer to Jack.

He was safe now. Jack would protect him. Jack would fix him. Just like he always did.

“Dy…ing…” Tim managed, before pulling away from Jack to be sick again.

Jack waited until he was done being sick before guiding his head back onto his shoulder. “Head up, champ. You’re not dying.”

His voice sounded so sure, so confident. Tim tightened his grip on Jack’s shirt.

He did not want to die here. Not like she had.

Maybe it was the end he deserved. But he feared it nonetheless.

“We’ll get you patched up. Keep you here for observation and nurse you back to health. You’ll be good as new in no time. That face is too pretty to die,” Jack said.

Jack shifted to get up, but Tim whimpered and held tighter. Jack settled back down with a sigh.

“Alright, alright, I’ll stick around for a little. But not long. I need to head to R&D and see if they have anything cooking down there that can help you back on your feet,” he said.

Tim closed his eyes, taking comfort in the arms around him and the body he laid on. He wasn’t alone. Jack stopped them from hurting him. Jack was going to keep him safe and alive.

It felt like only a moment had passed before Jack was shaking him awake. “Up, kiddo. Well, actually, I doubt you can stand. But, you know, wake up.”

Tim tried to focus on Jack’s face. Jack lowered him onto the ground, slipping his jacket off and balling it up for Tim to rest his head on.

“I’ll be back,” he assured. “I’m heading to R&D. I’ll make sure you’re monitored and cared for. You’re not dying on me, Tim. Got that?”

Tim weakly nodded as another round of spasms started up. Jack knelt down and put a hand on his shoulder until it dulled into twitches.

“I’ll be back,” he repeated.

“I know,” Tim whispered, and squeezed his eyes shut.

His body was racked with fever, ill from the injections. He’d never felt so weak and sick in his whole life, not even when he faced the Space-Hurps infection.

But Jack was looking after him now. He was going to be okay. He was safe.

***

Their vehicle approached the Preserve, and Gaige felt anxious all over again. Axton put a hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t jump out of the car,” he said sternly. “It sounds fun, but trust me, it hurts.”

“How do you…You know what? I don’t want to know,” Maya said, shaking her head.

“We can’t draw a lot of attention. If Jack finds out we’re here, he might come, and we could lose the digi-Jacks,” Gaige said, ignoring both of them.

“I still don’t think we should trust them,” Maya said, glancing at the watch on Gaige’s wrist. “They’re loyal to not-Jack and Handsome Jack. We can’t trust that they won’t turn on us.”

“They won’t. They want to get not-Jack away from Jack,” Gaige said.

“We’re trusting you, Gaige. Not them,” Maya said.

They got close and Maya stopped the vehicle. Gaige swiped the watch, and the digi-Jacks came forth.

Explaining them to Maya when she woke up had certainly been…a challenge. But after some serious convincing, she’d agreed to help them save not-Jack. Gaige figured she still felt guilty about what she did to him on Sanctuary.

“Plug us in to the ECHO,” Jay said.

Gaige obeyed and Jay disappeared with a flash of red. Blue crossed his arms and waited.

“He’s connected with the secretary,” he said after a moment. “He’s convincing her he’s Jack, and that three vault hunters were captured. He’s got her clearing the way in so no one sees you except the loaders.”

“This is too easy,” Maya said, narrowing her eyes at him.

“You’re right. It’s once we get inside that things get hard,” Blue said. “We can get you in, but that’s where the heaviest security is. Especially around the area our Jack is in. And the more attention you gain, the higher the chance is that Jack comes and either sends us away or commands us to kill you.”

“Comforting,” Axton said.

“He’ll be closely monitoring that place, especially after you guys kidnapped T…the doppelganger. He won’t risk anything else happening to his doppelganger.”

“Todd?” Gaige tried.

“What?” Blue said, glancing at her in confusion.

“Trevor? Tony? Tom?” she said. “You keep almost calling him something with a T.”

“That’s not important right now,” he said, emotions leaving his face. “Focus on the mission. The second Jack sees something is wrong here, he’ll make it nearly impossible for you to get to the doppelganger.”

“His name is important,” Gaige argued. “He’s not Jack.”

“Try telling him that,” Blue said, and Gaige had nothing to say to that.

Jay sparked back to existence amongst them. “We’re clear to get in. Be ready to take out the secretary when we get in.”

They entered the facility, all on-guard. But no human workers were around.

Loaders moved about, performing whatever tasks they’d been assigned. The turrets didn’t fire on them, and no one shot at them.

“I hate this place,” Blue said.

Jay’s eyes kept darting to a spot on the ground. Gaige followed his gaze and could just barely make out an old bloodstain.

“Not-Jack’s?” she guessed.

“He was shot. Jack kept him from bleeding out,” Jay said.

Gaige wondered if the digi-Jacks knew that Jack had orchestrated the assassination attempts against not-Jack. Judging by the look on Jay’s face, they at least suspected something was up with the attacks.

The group walked along until they approached the facility itself. Gaige, Axton, and Maya each grabbed their guns, and the digi-Jacks prepared their lasers.

They entered and as the secretary looked up to see who was there, Jay shot her between the eyes.

She slumped back in her chair, eyes wide and empty. Jay lowered his arm and gestured to one of the security panels.

“Hurry,” he said.

“So demanding,” Gaige said, but connected the watch to the panel. Jay disappeared again, reappearing not long after.

“There, security cameras are all on a loop feed. It won’t fool Jack for too long if he checks them,” Jay cautioned. “We also have access to the doors now.”

“Right, let’s get going,” Gaige said.

They cautiously moved through the facility. If loaders got near them, one of the digi-Jacks would hide their digistructed form from sight and order them away with Jack’s voice. It was slow progress, and Gaige was getting impatient.

“Gaige, slow down,” Maya said. “We can’t take any risks here. This place doesn’t exactly have an abundance of exits for a quick escape.”

“But who knows what they’re doing to him in here?” Gaige said.

“Getting ourselves caught won’t help him,” Maya said.

“No, but a fight is more fun. We should’ve brought Zer0 along for this,” Axton said moodily.

“Focus!” Blue hissed. “We’re nearing the highest security area. Most likely, it’ll be guarded if he’s in there.”

“And if he’s not?” Maya said.

“He will be,” Jay said. “Jack would want him in the most secure place possible.”

They peeked around the corner and, sure enough, four human guards and two loader bots guarded the door.

“Shit,” Gaige said.

“Language,” Axton said.

Gaige ignored him. “Shit, how are we supposed to get through that without being noticed?”

“I can’t use my powers on all of them,” Maya said.

“Hello?” Blue said, gesturing between himself and Jay. “Did you forget you have a badass digi-Jack?”

“Blue and I will take out the loaders,” Jay said, straightening up, his red form threatening as he focused on his prey. “You three take care of the humans.”

They nodded and readied themselves. The digi-Jacks stepped out into view of the guards, who seemed baffled.

“Handsome Jack?” one said uncertainly.

Both digi-Jacks raised their lasers and fired at the loaders. Gaige sprung out, Axton and Maya close behind, firing at the human guards. Maya suspended one, shooting at the other with her free hand. The sound of their shots was going to attract attention, and Gaige’s heart was slamming violently. They wouldn’t have long now.

The loaders crashed to the ground, the human guards following suit. All of them were motionless, and a steady pool of blood was growing around the door.

Jay opened the door for them and they hurried inside. There were several enclosures, and Gaige swept her eyes across all of them.

She nearly missed him.

“Not-Jack!” she cried, rushing up to one of the glasses.

“Oh no,” Blue whispered.

“He looks bad,” Maya said anxiously.

Not-Jack was collapsed on the ground of one of the enclosures. A man laid near him, dead eyes staring up at the ceiling. Another man was breathing shallowly, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

Not-Jack was frighteningly pale, his arms covered in dried blood and his whole body trembling, limbs jerking uncontrollably. Sweat claimed his skin, his hair plastered to his forehead.

“Move!” Blue snapped at Gaige. “The door is over there!”

Gaige shook herself and ran for the door. Jay opened it and they went around through a back room, full of vials and surgical equipment and monitors. Gaige ignored it all and ran for the door leading into the enclosure, which slid open.

The five of them rushed to not-Jack. Gaige could hear his harsh gasps of breath before she reached him, so at least he was alive. She dropped next to him and touched her hand to his forehead, the skin beneath her palm burning with a bad fever.

A vial was abandoned on the ground near him. Axton picked it up and his face paled.

“Gaige,” he whispered. “Gaige, they were injecting him with slag. Look.”

He held the vial out and anger surged through her. There were a few purple drops left inside of it.

“Son of a bitch!” she yelled, punching the ground. “Not-Jack? Can you hear me?”

He didn’t stir from his fevered sleep. She cursed loudly.

“Jack wouldn’t,” Jay said, looking at Blue in alarm. “That would kill him. Jack wouldn’t risk killing him.”

“Put the watch on him,” Blue instructed. “We’ll be able to check him.”

Gaige unlatched the watch and put it on not-Jack’s wrist. She placed a hand on his shoulder, hating the way his body shook beneath her touch.

“It’s not slag,” Jay said tightly. “But it’s not much better.”

“What? What is it?” Gaige demanded.

“Jack had them make a type of poison down in R&D. For torture purposes. Nonlethal in small injections, but it mimics the final stages of a lethal poison. Lethal in a large dose. I’d guess Jack has been giving the doppelganger small, hourly injections to keep him sick and delirious. It’s tinted purple to make him think it’s slag,” Jay said.

“That fucking asshole!” Blue cried in frustration. “I bet he’s planning to come ‘save’ him from the injections. Make him grateful to Jack for protecting him.”

Maya knelt beside Gaige and felt not-Jack’s forehead. “He’s really sick. It’ll be hard to get him out of here. Is there a cure?”

“It wears off, same as a bad illness. His body will fight it off in a few days, maybe a week or two depending on how long they’ve been injecting him for,” Jay said. “Health kits and medicine will help it leave his system faster.”

Gaige pulled not-Jack so that his head was on her lap. She shook him gently.

“Not-Jack?” she said.

To her surprise, he cracked his eyes open. Jay and Blue immediately hovered over him.

“Can you hear us?” Blue asked.

“Jack?” he choked out, voice hopeful.

“It’s your digi-Jacks,” Gaige said. “Blue and Jay, remember?”

He looked dazed and weak. His gaze slid over to her, trying to focus. When he did, his eyes widened in horror.

He tried to push away from her, to crawl away. But his limbs were weak and all he managed was to roll off and groan on his side. He gripped his head, his breathing heavy and terrified.

“No, no, no,” he whispered, pulling at his hair so hard that a few strands were tugged free of his scalp.

“Not-Jack?” Gaige said, reaching for him.

He cried out, throwing a hand out as if to stop her. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he sobbed. “I’m sorry I didn’t save you. I’m sorry.”

“What’s he talking about?” Maya said.

The digi-Jacks looked at each other, confused. But then they looked around and realization came to their faces.

“Oh no,” Jay said.

He knelt down next to not-Jack, putting a hand on his shoulder. “It’s me. It’s just me. Jay. Listen to me. That’s not her. That’s Gaige. She’s alive, she’s fine. It’s not that girl.”

“That girl?” Gaige said. “What the hell is going on?”

“He saw someone die here once,” Jay said without looking at her. “A teenage girl. With green eyes. She begged him to save her, and he watched her die.”

Gaige looked to the feverish, frightened man before her. He could be as cold as Handsome Jack. He could watch teenage girls with green eyes die when they begged him to save them.

But they haunted him. That’s why he was so determined to keep her safe from Jack. And that's why he wasn't Jack. 

“We need to get him out of here,” she said.

There was a man buried beneath that Handsome Jack façade. A man who was so tortured by what he saw that he’d tried to save Gaige. She wasn’t going to let Handsome Jack kill what was left of that man.

She looked to Axton, but he was already moving forward. He carefully lifted not-Jack into his arms.

“Here,” Maya said, taking out a health kit. She took not-Jack’s arm.

“No, please, no more. Jack promised,” not-Jack moaned.

“It’s going to help you,” Maya assured, injecting the health kit into him.

He whimpered, then fell silent. His head lolled to the side, and Axton let it rest against him.

“It’s helping,” Blue said. “They must have only given him a few injections. I guarantee Jack was planning to slip him more to keep him sick longer, but he hasn’t gotten the chance.”

“Handsome Jack is a monster,” Maya said in disgust.

“Which is exactly why we’re going to fucking kill him,” Gaige said. She took out one of her own health kits, knowing they only had a few with them. But not-Jack looked really bad, so she injected the health kit into him.

“Look,” Jay said, pointing to the ground where not-Jack had been laying. “Jack’s jacket. He’s been here.”

“We need to leave. Now,” Blue said.

The group left the enclosure. Axton struggled to carry the twitching doppelganger, and Gaige realized he was still limping from his previous leg injury. She bit her lip, but knew that she wouldn’t be able to carry not-Jack. He was bigger than her and Maya, and they would be slower than Axton. That was something they couldn’t afford right now.

They hadn’t even made it out of the secured area before not-Jack stirred and weakly slammed a hand against Axton’s shoulder. Axton set him on the ground, and Gaige knelt beside him and held him up by his shoulders as he heaved up purple-tinted sick onto the ground.

“S-Slag,” he muttered, wiping at his mouth with his sleeve.

“It’s not slag,” Gaige said. “The digi-Jacks confirmed it’s some type of torture poison Jack had his guy’s make. It’s just tinted to trick you into thinking it’s slag.”

“Jack wouldn’t,” he whispered, and dry heaved. Nothing came out, and he turned away from his sick and pressed his forehead to the ground. “I need to lie down.”

“We need to keep moving,” Gaige said urgently. “Jack could come back any minute.”

“H-help me. He’s g-going to help m-me,” he said, and his body started spasming again. Gaige put her arm around him and held him until his body returned to the previous trembling and twitching. The health kits appeared to have made him more lucid, but his body was still hot with fever.

“He did this to you, not-Jack,” Gaige said, her voice firm. “He did this to control you.”

“He wouldn’t,” not-Jack said, digging his fingers into the ground and crying out hoarsely. Gaige looked down and realized his wrist was broken. She grabbed his arm and pulled it away from the ground so he wouldn’t hurt his wrist anymore.

“He did,” she said. “We need to move. Come on.”

“You’re just going to kill me,” he said, and laid on the ground as his body became too weak to support himself. “The vault hunters will kill me. Jack will keep me safe.”

“Listen to yourself!” Jay snapped, Blue fuming beside him. “Jack will keep injecting you to keep you sick and compliant, and then he’ll nurse you back to health and you’ll think he saved you. Just like always.”

“He’s all I have,” not-Jack said, his eyes glazed over with fever.

“He’s delirious. Don’t bother,” Blue said, holding a hand out to Jay. “His fever is rising again.”

“He’s not all you have. We came for you,” Gaige said. “Dumbass.”

“Jack’s all I have,” not-Jack choked out, and he wasn’t looking at any of them, just mumbling to himself now. “My mom…I don’t have anyone else…I don’t…”

“Son of a bitch,” Blue said angrily. “Just…ignore him. We need to get him out of here. His fever will settle back down in a few minutes. The injections are still unstable in his system. Don’t be surprised if he’s coherent one second and in a feverish fit the next.”

Axton lifted not-Jack back up and they got moving again. Not-Jack was still muttering to himself, and Gaige heard him alternating between saying “Why did she laugh?” and “Jack won’t let me die alone”.

“His mom?” she asked, looking to the digi-Jacks.

Jay’s expression was tight. “They told her he died when he became Jack’s doppelganger. She laughed.”

“Jack doesn’t let him forget it,” Blue said bitterly. “Keep walking. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Clearly it did. Gaige thought of her dad, and couldn’t even imagine how she’d feel if he laughed at her apparent death. He never would. He’d be heartbroken, torn to shreds over her loss. He’d never laugh again.

Was not-Jack’s mom all he had? The kind of crushing loneliness and pain that must’ve come from her laughter. Gaige didn’t want to think about it anymore, but it was hard not to when her gaze kept slipping to him trembling in Axton’s arms.

He’d fallen silent, eyes closed and breathing harsh. They passed the bodies of the guards and the bots they’d killed to get in here, and Gaige felt a sick satisfaction at the blood she stepped over. They’d locked him in there, left him to become this broken, trembling thing.

One of the doors had shut, and Jay moved forward to open it. He furrowed his brow, and then panic hit his face.

“I can’t open it,” he said.

“What?” Maya said sharply.

Gaige slipped her gun into her hand and readied herself, looking around. There were enclosures on either side of them with various creatures contained inside.

“Be ready,” she warned.

She wasn’t surprised when the doors to the enclosures opened, and the infected beasts rushed forth.

Axton had no time to gracefully set not-Jack down, so he knelt, dropped him, and began shooting. The digi-Jacks moved in front of not-Jack protectively as they fired off shots, and Gaige stood at his side.

Gaige’s eyes widened as she heard not-Jack cry out beside her. She spun and realized a skag had been released behind them. It was attacking not-Jack, who was trying to fend it off with only his hands, one of which would not cooperate thanks to the broken wrist.

Gaige swung her gun around, aimed at the skag, and shot it in the head. It dropped to the ground, twitching like not-Jack. He panted, putting his good hand over a wound on his side where the skag had gotten at him.

“Fuck my stupidass life!” he hissed, apparently lucid again. He lightly banged his head against the ground as he put pressure on his wound.

“Hey, cover me so I can wrap him up!” Gaige commanded the digi-Jacks. She knelt beside not-Jack and pulled his shirt up, eyeing the wound. It was bloody, but not too deep. Still, he’d lost a lot of blood recently thanks to the wound on his back. So she took out the last health kit she had and jammed it into him.

“What happened?” he moaned.

“You were a skag chewtoy,” she said, pulling his jacket off and tearing a shred from it.

“No, I mean…” He stopped, closed his eyes, and breathed in heavily through his nose. “Fuck, nauseous.”

She pressed her hand to his head, and his fever appeared to have gone down. The health kits must finally be attacking the poison in his system. “You were poisoned. But you were polite enough not to puke on Axton, which I’m sure he appreciates.”

She ignored his curses as she wrapped his wound and lifted her gun to help her friends fight off the creatures attacking them. She let not-Jack lean against her as she fired. Blue had shifted behind them to make sure nothing else crept up on them.

It was a few minutes before all the creatures laid dead at their feet. Jay walked swiftly to the door as Blue knelt to check on not-Jack.

“Your fever is steadying. It’s still there, but it’s not fluctuating as much,” he said. “You’re still going to feel like shit. You’ll be too weak to be any help. But you should be coherent. What do you remember?”

“They injected me with slag,” he said, rubbing his arm and wincing.

“Poison,” Blue said, shaking his head. “That torture stuff Jack had R&D working on.”

“But…Jack stopped them,” he said weakly. “Jack didn’t know they were doing it. He was so angry. I remember that.”

“He knew,” Gaige said, her grip on him tightening.

She was even more disgusted with Jack than she ever thought she could be. Jack took a man with no one else in the world, broke him even more, and then built him into a scared, loyal soldier. She understood now why not-Jack was so loyal. Because Jack had convinced him that if he wasn’t loyal, he was alone. And Gaige could only imagine the ways he emphasized that loneliness.

Did Jack imprison him? Leave him alone for days, weeks, as long as it took to break his mind and send him willingly into Jack’s iron embrace?

But for all that fear, all that carefully crafted loyalty, not-Jack betrayed Jack when he thought Gaige was in danger.

It was Gaige’s turn to save him, no matter how little of him was left.

“We’re locked in,” Jay said in frustration. “And Blue and I can’t stay much longer. We need to recharge, soon.”

Gaige swore loudly, ignored Axton’s glare, and tore another large strip from not-Jack’s jacket. She made him a makeshift sling and forced his arm into it. He looked down at his limp, broken wrist.

“Jack?” Gaige guessed.

“I wouldn’t give up the gun I had,” he said, voice void of emotions. He reached up and touched the mask on his face, but didn’t say anything.

“What do we do now?” Maya said.

“Call the others,” Axton said. “Jack clearly knows we’re here. No point in ECHO silence.”

Maya took her ECHO out. “Krieg, Salvador, Zer0, we’re at the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve. We have the doppelganger with us, and we’re locked in.”

“We’re far. Hold out,” Salvador replied.

Gaige wasn’t sure how long they could hold out for. The digi-Jacks gave a concerned look to their injured companion before disappearing back into the watch.

Not-Jack touched his fingers to the watch, seeming to take some comfort in the feel of it. He slumped against Gaige and closed his eyes. She used the remains of the jacket to wipe sweat from his face.

“When we get you out of here, do you have anyone we can take you to?” she asked.

He forced his tired, bloodshot eyes open. “No. No one.”

“Then we’ll find somewhere for you to go,” Gaige said.

“Why are you helping me?” he said quietly. “I’m Handsome Jack. You should be putting a bullet between my freaking eyes.”

“You’re not Handsome Jack. You’re someone whose name starts with a T. Don’t give me that surprised look, your digi-Jacks keeping fucking up. Anyways, you’re someone. I don’t know who, but I know it’s not Handsome Jack. Handsome Jack wouldn’t have saved us at Opportunity, and Handsome Jack wouldn’t have come here to break us out,” she said.

He closed his eyes again, and she just let him rest while Maya and Axton examined the door. Hopefully the others would get to them soon.

“Wait, I think I got it,” Maya said in surprise. “There, the light’s green.”

“Be ready. Could be a trap,” Axton said, coming over to Gaige. He helped her get not-Jack to his feet. He opened his eyes, leaning heavily on the two of them for support and looking frustrated at his own lack of strength.

“This is worse than Space-Hurps,” he groaned.

“You had Space-Hurps?” Gaige said.

“Helios was a shitty place to be a few years ago,” he said.

Maya hit the button to open the door and they watched it slide open. Gaige felt not-Jack shoving her, and he cried out as he put pressure on his broken wrist.

She hit the ground as the shot rang out, and not-Jack cried out again in pain. She scrambled back to her feet to look at him.

“Son of a bitch!” he snarled, dropping to his knees even as Axton tried to catch him. He pressed his hand to his leg, where the bullet must have grazed him. He looked up at the four armed guards at the door and got to his feet, his legs barely able to hold himself up. “You freaking idiots! Do you have any idea who I am?”

They all hesitated, looking at each other. The one who had fired at them dropped his gun in terror.

“You freaking idiots is right.”

It was Jack’s voice, but it did not come from not-Jack’s mouth. A monitor on the wall flickered to life with an image of Handsome Jack on it.

Not-Jack fell back to his knees.

“That,” Jack said, pointing to not-Jack, “is my very expensive body double. Shoot him again and I cut your hands off. Get those vault hunters, lock them up, and put the body double in a holding cell.”

“Jack, stop!” not-Jack said.

“You should’ve just stayed put, other-me. I would’ve healed you up and kept you safe,” Jack said. “Now I’ve got to fix you again.”

“Hey, Jack? Fuck you,” Gaige said, and shot the monitor. She helped not-Jack up and handed him one of her guns, knowing he wouldn’t be much help but wanting to arm him anyways. With his watch charging, he had no other defenses.

“He’ll never let me go,” not-Jack said, looking down at the gun in his hand.

“Would you want to leave if he did?” Gaige said.

He didn’t answer, just raised the gun with a trembling hand. One of the guards cried out as he was suspended into the air, and the gunfire started up.

They had no cover, so not-Jack used his body to shield Gaige since the guards weren’t allowed to shoot him. Gaige had to fire around him, as his shots kept missing, and with each one he seemed to grow more exhausted. She had to put an arm around him and let him lean against her just to keep him standing.

When the guards were all dead, he slumped back and she lowered him to the ground. Axton and Maya stayed on guard, as an alarm was now blaring.

“Just go,” he said, dropping the gun to the ground. “Whatever they injected me with, I can’t keep this up. Get out and leave me. He’ll never let me go, even if you get me out of here.”

“No,” Gaige said. “We’re not leaving you, not-Jack. We’re not.”

He seemed surprised by that, and allowed her to help him up. He stumbled, nearly collapsing right back down. She realized how heavily he was sweating, and just how bad his trembling had gotten.

“Axton,” she called.

Axton pulled not-Jack’s arm across his shoulders and helped pull him along. Not-Jack tried to keep up, but it was clearly a struggle even for him to get his legs to move.

They’d just made it past the door when the next round of guards came forward. Axton set not-Jack down, and he swiped at his watch, bringing the digi-Jacks forth. He slumped against the wall, too tired to even keep his head up.

“He’s bad,” Blue said, moving next to Gaige as he shot at the guards. “He needs to rest. I’m surprised he’s even still conscious. The fever is rising again. Not as bad as before, but enough.”

“Sorry, we can’t exactly stop to let him nap,” Gaige said, gesturing with her gun before shooting again.

“I know,” he said, looking displeased about it.

They managed to take out the guards and Gaige and Axton went back to not-Jack. As Axton tried to pull him up, not-Jack pushed against him.

“Just go,” he panted, fumbling with his watch. “Take them. Don’t let Jack hurt them.”

“Stop!” Jay said, swatting his hand away. “We’re not leaving you. No one is.”

“You need to,” not-Jack insisted, and swayed dangerously. He caught himself against the wall. “I’m going to get you killed. Just go. This is my life now.”

“Fuck that,” Gaige said, grabbing him by the shirt. “We’re not leaving you. You’re not Handsome Jack. We’re getting out of here, you’re going to sleep off this fever, and we’re going to find somewhere safe for you. Those are all facts.”

“Fucking…dumbass…kid,” he slurred, and she pulled him against herself so he wouldn’t collapse to the ground. “Tim…Timothy.”

“What?” she said.

“My name…was…Timothy…” he said, and lost consciousness.

She held him closer. Timothy. She was getting Timothy out of here, and away from Handsome Jack, no matter what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo this chapter is long, sorry about that. But now Gaige knows Tim's name!


	15. Chapter 15

Axton had not-Jack on his back as they moved cautiously through the halls. Gaige kept glancing at him and the digi-Jacks.

Timothy, she had to remind herself. His name wasn’t not-Jack or Handsome Jack. It was Timothy.

The digi-Jacks walked ahead of everyone in case anyone was waiting to ambush them. But Blue suddenly drifted back towards Axton, his expression tight.

“Tim is dehydrated,” he said. They’d easily switched back to calling him by his actual name, instead of Jack or doppelganger. “Do any of you have water?”

“We left it in the vehicle,” Maya said.

“Shit,” Blue said, but moved back to the front of the group.

Gaige wasn’t surprised that Tim was dehydrated. With how badly he was sweating, and how much he’d gotten sick, it was inevitable at this point. He was just going to have to hang on a little longer.

They reached another closed door and the monitor next to it flickered on with an image of Handsome Jack. He looked out at the group, eyes sweeping over the digi-Jacks.

“You all know you’re not getting out of here, right?” Jack said, sounding far too amused for the sadistic expression on his face. “I’ve been thinking over what I want to do to you all when I’ve got you captive here. I’m thinking I let you get used to your new enclosures while I fix up the doppelganger, and then I have him inject some slag right into you. And he’ll do it. He’ll do it because he’s mine, and he obeys me.”

“Timothy isn’t yours,” Gaige said. “You fucking maniac.”

Anger flashed through his eyes at the sound of Timothy’s real name. “Timothy,” he mocked. “There is no Timothy. He signed his life away to me years ago.”

“I know he’s a little out of it right now, but from the bottom of his heart, I know he’d want to do this if he was awake,” Gaige said, lifting Tim’s good arm and flicking his middle finger up at Jack.

“I think you’d be better off without either of your arms, kiddo. Maybe cut off the circulation and give it a nice slag injection until it falls right off from infection,” Jack said thoughtfully. “I’ll be sure to ask other-me about it when he wakes up. Oh! Right, he wanted to have some fun with your little Siren friend for torturing him.”

Maya glared defiantly at Jack. “If he wants revenge on me for what I did, I can only imagine what he dreams of doing to you.”

Jack grew amused again. “You don’t get it, do you? He’s loyal to me. If I tell him to cut his own leg off, he’ll do it. He is mine. You’ve got him a little confused, but it’s nothing I can’t fix. See, I’ve got plans for all of you, even him. First, I’ll-”

The monitor cut off. Jay lowered his hand.

“Oops,” he said.

Blue shot it, watching as it shattered. “Oops.”

“Why didn’t he order the two of you to attack when he saw you?” Maya said.

“We’re designed to keep Tim safe,” Blue explained. “He doesn’t know Gaige can summon us, and you’re not posing a threat to Tim right now. He might just assume we’re working with you for Tim’s own wellbeing.”

“But if he tells us to attack, we can’t disobey,” Jay said grimly. “Just…be ready for that.”

“You’re Tim’s only chance at getting away from Jack permanently. If you have to, destroy the watch,” Blue said.

“That won’t be an issue if we can’t even get through this door,” Axton said, kicking it.

Jay checked the lock mechanics. “Tim might be able to get through. It’ll register his signature as Jack’s.”

“Hey, wake up,” Gaige said, shaking Tim’s shoulder.

He didn’t stir. Axton lowered him to the ground and pressed a hand to his head.

“Fever is still high,” he said.

“It hasn’t changed too much,” Blue said, kneeling down in front of him. “Tim, come on, wake up.”

“I’m really sorry about this, dude,” Gaige said, and put pressure on his broken wrist.

Tim jerked away, letting out a hoarse cry. “Son of a taint, what the fuck!”

“Wakey wakey, everything’s gone to shit,” Gaige said, trying to get him to his feet. Axton supported his other side, and he staggered dangerously between the two of them. “The door is locked, but they think you can get it open.”

“Your palm and eye need to be scanned, and a voice activation is required,” Jay said. “Jack upped the security.”

“Sure,” Tim mumbled, head dropping forward. Gaige shook him a little and he tried to pick it back up. “T-Thirsty.”

“I know,” she said. “We’ll get you water when we’re out of here.”

She guided his hand onto the scanner at the door. Axton shifted Tim’s head to scan his eye.

“Uh…do we need a password for the door?” Gaige asked.

“O-override…security…proto…col…” Tim said, trying to sound commanding but failing miserably. The door didn’t react. Gaige struggled to keep him upright as he nearly collapsed. He grabbed his own broken wrist, hissing in pain as he pressed onto it. “Fucking override the security protocol!”

The doors slid open, and Gaige was not surprised at the amount of armed resistance waiting for them on the other side. A monitor was already alive with a smug Jack’s face.

“Other-me, you’re awake!” Jack said brightly.

“T-Tim. My name…is…Tim,” Tim said, trying desperately to keep himself standing.

Fury slipped into Jack’s eyes. “No, your name is Handsome Jack.”

“Timothy Lawrence,” Tim said, but looked uncertain at his own name.

“You know who Timothy Lawrence was? He was a broke failure, with no friends and no family. His own mother laughed at his death. He was nothing,” Jack said coldly.

Gaige felt Tim slump in her arms. His body was trembling even harder than before.

“You don’t care about him,” Gaige said. “You tossed him in this place, injected him with poison, and lied to him.”

Jack ignored her, focused on his doppelganger. “Come back, and let’s move past this whole tantrum of yours. It’s not too late.”

Tim looked torn, and Gaige felt her heart sink. Would he pick Jack? He’d been under Jack’s manipulation for years. There was always the chance he was too far gone, blinded by that terror of being alone and unwanted. Brutally conditioned to believe only Jack could save him from such a horrible fate.

“No,” he whispered.

“What did you just say to me?” Jack snarled.

“I…I said no,” Tim said, shrinking away, towards Gaige. She tightened her grip on him.

“See? You’re not such a pussy after all,” she said, but gave him a reassuring look.

“Digi-Jacks, get me my freaking disobedient doppelganger back,” Jack snapped. “Oh, Timmy, you’ve really fucked up this time. Do you know how much work it’s going to be to get you right again? But we’re going to do it, and I’m going to make you destroy that watch of yours and torture these three bandits until they beg for death.”

“No!” Tim said in alarm, covering his watch.

“Is that your new favorite word? Good thing I know two digistructs who can’t bother my ears with it. Digi-Jacks, get him and subdue the vault hunters. Guards, I want those freaking vault hunters alive, and I want my doppelganger alive and no permanent injuries on him. He was expensive.”

“The watch!” Blue said desperately as he and Jay reluctantly raised their lasers at Gaige and Axton. “Destroy the damn watch, Tim!”

“No,” Tim choked out. “I won’t kill you. I won’t.”

He staggered, putting himself between Gaige and Axton and the two digi-Jacks. “You can’t hurt me. It’s against your programming.”

“But we can hurt them,” Jay said miserably. “I’m fucking sorry, Tim. I’m sorry.”

He turned and fired at Maya.

She barely managed to throw herself to the side, blood bursting from her arm as the shot caught her. Tim swiped desperately at the watch, but the digi-Jacks did not disappear.

“I knew you were too attached to that watch,” Jack said gleefully. “I can’t wait to make you destroy it with your own two hands, Timmy. God, I’m pissed at you, you know that? This is fantastic.”

The guards were swarming in, trying to surround them. Maya retreated behind Tim, but Gaige knew he wouldn’t be able to protect them. He was gasping for breath, using all his strength just to hold himself up. His legs shook dangerously.

The digi-Jacks slowly began to circle around, looking anguished as they got ever closer to their targets. Gaige raised her gun, knowing it would be useless. Her shots would pass through them, and all it would do was waste her bullets.

“Jay…Blue…don’t,” Tim begged.

“We can’t stop it,” Blue said. “I’m sorry, Tim. You have to destroy the watch.”

“Please,” Tim whispered, clutching at his watch, and Gaige felt horrible for him. His only company in the hell that had been his life. And now he had to choose between destroying them, or letting them destroy the people who came to save him.

The digi-Jacks were closing in. The guards were surrounding them. Jack was laughing.

Gaige knew they wouldn’t survive once the gunfire broke out. But she would die fighting, so she lifted her gun.

The guard closest to her lifted his gun. Axton tried to pull her back, to shield her.

The man suddenly choked out a noise, blood spraying between his lips as a sword pierced his chest. On the monitor, Jack stopped laughing and jerked forward furiously.

“What the…?” he hissed.

Zer0 appeared and yanked his sword out of the man’s chest. With the others caught off guard, he managed to kill two more before they began firing on him.

“Hello, pretty lady!” Krieg cried as he leapt out from the crowd, blood on his weapon as he took his place at Maya’s side.

“How did you guys get in here?” Maya asked in shock and relief.

Salvador was too busy laughing and firing away at the crowd of enemies. Gaige looked at Jack’s confused and furious expression on the monitor.

“Angel,” she whispered. “She got them through without alerting Jack.”

Relief slammed her as she began firing on their enemies. They were going to be okay. They had a chance now.

“Get me my goddamn doppelganger!” Jack ordered the digi-Jacks. “I override your protocols. Knock him out and get him back.”

“Tim, the watch!” Jay said in alarm as he approached him.

“I…I can’t. I won't,” Tim said in defeat, lowering his head as he accepted his fate.

Gaige fired at Jay, but the shots went through him. Jay let out an agonized noise as he solidified himself and cracked his elbow into Tim’s temple. Tim crashed to the ground, unconscious.

Gaige’s eyes widened. “Both of you, stay solid.”

Understanding lit their faces and they obeyed. Gaige moved in front of Tim protectively, fending them off as they tried to punch and kick their way past her. She risked a glance at his watch, but his wrist was hidden.

“Get him out,” Blue begged, before he and Jay disappeared with a burst of digistruct light.

“What happened?” Axton said.

“Solidifying themselves drains the battery faster. They told us that, remember?” Gaige said, bending down beside Tim and checking him. He had a bruise forming on his head and was out cold, but she couldn’t focus too much on him. Instead, she stood and fired on their enemies. They were outnumbered, but they were holding their own well as they worked together.

Gaige was exhausted by the time they downed the last guard, but she dropped beside the doppelganger and shook him. Tim didn’t wake, and she wasn’t surprised. He was still burning with fever, though his skin was dry from dehydration.

She helped Axton get Tim onto his back. They needed to get out of here before the watch’s battery charged, or they would be in serious trouble. Gaige knew Tim would never forgive any of them if they destroyed the watch.

“Why are we bringing Handsome Jack 2.0 with us?” Salvador asked, gesturing to Tim with a gun he seemed more than ready to use on him.

“His name is Tim,” Gaige said, putting her hands on her hips and fixing him with a look. “He’s coming with us. He got trapped here and injected with poison because Jack told him he had us captive here, and Tim came to save us.”

“He needs a health kit/He is very feverish/Take this one for him,” Zer0 said, handing her a health kit.

“Thanks,” Gaige said gratefully, injecting it into Tim.

It was a moment before he opened his eyes, his body draped limply over Axton’s back. His eyes searched for Gaige, saw she was okay, and closed again.

“Gaige,” he croaked, and cleared his throat.

“We’re getting out of here,” Gaige assured him. “We’ve got the whole team here to kick some ass.”

“Don’t hurt them,” he said, opening his eyes to look at his watch. “Don’t destroy them.”

“Okay,” she said, unable to make the promise. If it came down to them or Tim, she’d have to make a choice, and she already knew who she’d pick.

“Fucker,” he said, laughing weakly. “That wasn’t a p-promise. I’m not that out of it, you know.”

“Well, we’ve stuck enough health kits in you,” she said, trying to skate around the issue. “Come on, let’s get moving.”

“Follow us,” Salvador said.

“You’re not getting out of here,” Jack warned from the monitor. Gaige shot it and kept moving.

Salvador led them down a side hallway and into an office. He shut the door and locked it.

“What are we doing in here?” Maya asked.

“Angel told us there’s an exit out this way. She’s scrambling the feeds so Jack can’t track everyone,” Salvador said. “Said this exit is only for extreme emergencies or something.”

“I forgot about it,” Tim mumbled. “We’ve never used it before. It sets off an alarm when the door is opened. It’s only in case of an outbreak.”

“Well now it’s being used for a breakout,” Gaige said, gesturing at the others to lead the way to the exit.

“Freaking lame wordplay,” Tim said. He didn’t seem to have the energy to pick his head up anymore. Gaige wished he didn’t have the energy to be an asshole.

They wandered along a narrow hall, going through a door that was so blended into the wall Gaige didn’t notice it at first. It led into another slim hall, which Salvador cursed loudly about as they worked their way down it.

The door at the end was slightly ajar, held open by a rock. Salvador kicked the rock away and opened the door. Their vehicle was parked behind a cluster of trees nearby.

“Tight squeeze,” Maya said.

Gaige got in the vehicle and helped Axton get Tim in. The others joined them and Salvador took the wheel, taking off.

“Angel held off the alarm from the door when we came in,” he explained.

“I’m distracting Jack. There was a second secret exit, and I set the alarm off at that door to divert his attention,” Angel said, her voice coming from one of their ECHOs. “He will not allow his doppelganger to escape so easily, but if you can make it back to Sanctuary, Jack will be unable to follow.”

“My watch,” Tim said, and his voice sounded nothing like the commanding tone Handsome Jack had. “Can he hurt them from a distance?”

“I will try to sever Jack’s connection to the digistructs. Plug the watch into an ECHO so I can access the code,” she said.

Tim needed help getting the watch off his wrist. The ugly swelling of his broken wrist had gone down with the health kits, but they’d waited too long for it to completely heal.

Gaige plugged the watch into her ECHO and Angel fell silent as she worked. Gaige searched the vehicle until she found a bottle of water, uncapping it and allowing Tim to drink a little at a time. He seemed desperate to chug the whole bottle at once, but she kept the amount he drank controlled so he wouldn’t make himself sick.

It was a few minutes before Angel spoke again. “It would take me a while to break Jack’s connection to the watch.”

“I might be able to do it. I watched him input all the programming,” Tim said.

“In the meantime, it’s best to keep the watch somewhere where the digi-Jacks will be out of range of any people,” Angel said.

“That’ll be hard on Sanctuary, but I think I know a place,” Maya said.

“They’re not leaving me,” Tim said.

“They have to, or they’ll bring you back to Jack. We’re lucky we escaped this time,” Gaige said. “Shut up and drink your water, Timothy.”

“We’ll take them to Ellie,” Maya said. “Ellie can store them somewhere where they can’t cause any harm, and where Jack won’t know where to find them.”

Tim didn’t seem okay with the idea at all, but he reluctantly kept quiet and drank the water he was offered. Gaige couldn’t blame him for his anxiety over being separated from the watch, but it was best to keep Jay and Blue away from them for now. They were under Jack’s control, whether they wanted to be or not. If Jack could control them remotely, they had to play it safe.

Tim suddenly leaned back and started laughing, which turned into a coughing fit. Gaige thumped his back.

“What’s so funny?” she asked in confusion.

“My freaking life,” he said, slumping back against the seat. “I went from being an aspiring actor with student loans, to the body double for some programmer from Hyperion, to a vault hunter on Elpis, to Handsome Jack, and now I’m…I don’t know. Shit. My stupidass life.”

“You’re Timothy,” Gaige said firmly. “That’s who you are now.”

His laughter cut off and he looked tired again. “I don’t remember who Timothy Lawrence is.”

“He’s someone who saves a teenage girl and her friend when they’re about to be crushed to death by a statue. He’s someone who risks his own safety to free those same people from Handsome Jack’s captivity,” she said. “He’s a good person trapped in a shitty one.”

“I took method acting to a new level,” he mumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing heavily. “What are you going to do with me now?”

“Face pizza!” Krieg cried.

“No face pizza,” Maya said, and Krieg dropped his head in disappointment.

“We find somewhere for you to go,” Gaige said. “You…really have no one?”

He hesitated, shoulders slumping in defeat. “No. I doubt Athena would help me. Not after I stayed with Jack.”

“I don’t know who that is, but we’ll get you in touch with her. If that falls through, we’ll send you somewhere that Jack won’t find you.” They just had to keep him hidden away until Jack was dead.

Tim reached up and pulled the mask off his face. He stared down at it and touched the scar on his face, tracing along it with his fingers.

“Timothy Lawrence,” he said quietly. He threw the mask out the of the vehicle.

He closed his eyes and flinched when Gaige touched his forehead. He still had a pretty bad fever, so she let him rest against her as he drifted off to sleep.

As his breathing deepened, she looked back out of the vehicle. She looked to his scarred face, feverish and exhausted. But he was alive, and he had the freedom to be himself again, however long it took him to find out who that person was.

He was Timothy Lawrence once more, and they’d keep him away from Handsome Jack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No cliff hanger this time, so enjoy your weekend and Tim will be back on Monday ;D


	16. Chapter 16

Tim cracked his eyes open, looking around the unfamiliar room. He tried to sit up, but he felt weak and dizzy. He winced as he put pressure on his wrist and looked down, realizing it was in a cast.

“You’re awake.”

He looked over at Lilith, and immediately went on guard. She raised an eyebrow at his weak attempt to scramble away from her. He swiped at his wrist, but his watch wasn’t there.

“Calm down, I’m not going to hurt you,” she said.

“Where am I?” he croaked out.

“The Crimson Raider HQ,” she said. “We had Dr. Zed treat you, and then we brought you here. You’ve been sleeping off a fever for almost three days straight. You’ve only woken up briefly a few times.”

He rubbed his head, trying to remember everything that happened. As it slowly came back to him, his eyes widened. He touched his exposed face.

“Where’s my watch?” he asked.

“Gaige brought it to a friend of ours to keep it secure,” Lilith said. “She said she left a note so if they were summoned they’d know you didn’t abandon them.”

“How did we get on Sanctuary? Jack blocked the fast travel stations,” he said, trying to sit up but ending up slumped awkwardly on the pillows.

“With everyone together, we ambushed one of the stations with a coordinated attack and were able to fast travel with you before reinforcements came,” Lilith said.

“And…Jack?” he asked hesitantly.

“Threatening everyone over their ECHOs,” Lilith said. “He won’t catch us off-guard again. He’s not getting up here to take you back this time.”

“Where’s Gaige?” he said. He didn’t like being alone with Lilith.

“I sent her to go get more health kits from Zed,” Lilith said. “She’ll be back soon. I’m…sorry. For what we did to you. Gaige told us how you ended up captive and poisoned. I was wrong about you.”

“You really weren’t. I’m an asshole,” Tim said.

“An asshole who tried to save my friends when you thought they were in danger,” Lilith said. “We’ll help you find somewhere safe to hide until this is all over.”

“You’re going to kill him?” Tim said.

“You know we have to,” Lilith said.

“Yea. I used to hope someone would take the jackass out.” He laughed bitterly. “Now I…don’t like the thought of him dead. I feel like I’m betraying him. How fucked is that? He shot me out of a moonshot cannon and branded my face, and I don’t want him dead.” He shook his head. “Shit. All of this because of some goddamn student loans. I’ll tell you the Bunker’s defenses.”

Lilith seemed surprised at that, but composed herself and nodded. “Rest, for now. Angel sent us the location of another pocket watch double. I sent half our vault hunters to go get him, along with Mordecai for backup.”

The door to the HQ opened and Gaige nearly dropped the health kits in her arms when she saw him. She set them on the table next to him, picked one up, and stuck it into his arm.

“Ow! A freaking warning would be nice, kiddo!” he said impatiently.

“Shut up,” she said, feeling his forehead. “Your fever broke this morning. But Zed said to give you health kits every two hours for the rest of the day.”

“Blue and Jay?” he said.

“Safe and secure,” she assured.

“I might be able to alter their code,” he said. “I need access to them, though.”

“You just woke up, and you already want to go get the shit beat out of you again?” she said, and pressed on his head. He winced, swatting her hand away. “That’s the bruise from where the digi-Jacks knocked you out. Dumbass.”

“I need to keep them safe from Jack,” Tim insisted.

“Tim…did you design their code to make them care for you that much?” Gaige asked.

Tim winced again and looked away. “They were already programmed to protect me. When we gave them personalities, that code bled into it. But they’re…they’re all I have.” He glanced at her quickly. “At least, all I had. Back then.”

“If you can keep down your lunch, I’ll take you to them,” Gaige said. “But if you start puking, you’re staying on bedrest.”

“What are you, my mom?” Tim said.

“Shut the fuck up and lie down until lunch time,” Gaige said, putting her hands on her hips.

“Language!” Axton called from somewhere in the HQ.

“Fuck you!” Gaige called back.

Gaige sat down next to Tim and Lilith left them alone. Gaige proceeded to recount the ambush they’d executed on Jack’s forces at one of the fast travel stations, and how epic it had been. Tim was pretty sure she was exaggerating most of it, but he nodded his head like he believed it all and didn’t interrupt her.

He still felt tired and sore, but much better than before. He couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that he was here, lying in a bed in the Crimson Raider HQ.

Part of him whispered to leave, to go back to Jack. Jack would punish him brutally for leaving, but then he’d keep him safe. He’d make sure no one hurt Tim, and he’d care for Tim.

But another part of him knew Jack would kill any little piece of Timothy Lawrence that remained. If Tim went back now, or if Jack got his hands on Tim, that was it. It would all be over. Timothy Lawrence would cease to exist, and there would only be Handsome Jack.

“Gaige,” he said, cutting her off in the middle of what she was saying.

“Rude ass, I was talking,” she said, whacking his shoulder.

“Don’t let him get me back,” he said, meeting her eyes with his bicolored ones. “If he finds me…I’ll go back to him. There won’t be a Timothy Lawrence if he gets me again.”

“You’re so stupid!” she said in exasperation. “Of course I won’t let him get you back. Idiot.”

She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Some part of Tim twisted inside, and he felt flustered and confused.

When was the last time someone cared about him? Someone who had no intentions of hurting him?

He couldn’t remember.

Axton entered the room with a tray, setting it on the table next to Tim. “Zed said to get you back on actual food when you woke up.”

“Remember our deal,” Gaige said, narrowing her eyes at Tim.

“Yea, yea, I’ll keep it down,” Tim said, trying to maneuver his food with his one good hand. Gaige reached to help him, but he swatted her away. “I’m a grown man. I can feed myself.”

“Hey, how old are you?” Gaige said. “Jack is old as shit. Are you?”

“No,” Tim said. “How old is Axton?”

“26,” Axton said.

“I…” Tim paused, furrowed his brow as he struggled to recall his actual age. “I’m not that much older than you. I think.” Jack had drilled his own birthday and age into Tim for years. “Yea, I’m not much older than you. Just a few years.” He’d be damned if he was going to admit just how many years older. He wasn’t that old, but he certainly wasn’t in his mid-20s anymore.

Axton and Gaige began to argue about what age constituted as old (Gaige claimed Axton was basically an old man), and Tim focused on eating without spilling food all over himself. His hands were shaking lightly, which made it difficult but still possible to eat without making a mess. It didn’t help that he had to use only one of those shaking hands thanks to his broken wrist.

He managed to eat most of what was on the tray, but his traitorous stomach twisted uncomfortably at the food. Tim focused on a fixed point in the room as Axton and Gaige continued their argument, willing himself to keep the food in.

Once he was certain he’d keep it down, he turned to Gaige. “Can we go now?”

“You have to keep that food in for an hour,” she said sternly.

“Why an hour?” he said.

“I don’t know. It was the first thing that came out of my mouth. So, an hour,” she said.

He was already restless just lying here. Almost three days he’d been out, and who knew what had happened since then? Surely Jack was already plotting to get to him. He needed to fix the watch issue as soon as possible and go into hiding. The longer he was on Sanctuary, the more danger Gaige and her friends were in.

“The Bunker,” he said, because after so many years of silence it was killing him to endure even a few more minutes of it. “He has a defense system for it. You need to be prepared. I didn’t tell him Angel is helping you, and I didn’t tell him the Bunker is your target.”

He described what he could recall of the defense systems to them, and they listened intently. Gaige seemed too enthusiastic about the advanced technology Jack was employing, and Axton looked exasperated at her enthusiasm for their impending deadly fight.

“Do you know what’s at the Bunker?” Axton asked.

Tim shook his head. “I’m assuming it’s where he’s charging the key. He never told me, though. He just brought me to show off the defenses. I wasn’t allowed inside.”

Gaige and Axton shared a look, but didn’t share what they knew. Tim supposed that was fair. They still couldn’t trust him, despite the freedom they’d granted him.

Tim checked the time and felt impatient at how little of it had passed. He kicked the blanket off himself and started getting up.

“Hold up,” Gaige said, pushing his shoulders back down. “Where the hell do you think you’re going? Do you know how to tell time? Because it hasn’t been an hour.”

“I need to go to them,” Tim said. “The longer I sit here, the longer they’re under Jack’s control.”

“Fine, but if you puke, you’re cleaning it up yourself,” Gaige said, reluctantly allowing him out of the bed.

Tim looked down and realized he wasn’t wearing his own clothes. “Did you…Okay, this is weird. I don’t like that someone undressed me, put me in clean clothes, and tucked me into bed.”

Gaige rolled her eyes. “Don’t be such a baby. Your clothes were a mess. Roland and Axton got you into new ones a few times. You kept sweating through everything. Oh, right, can you at least take a quick shower before we go?”

He sniffed himself and made a face. “That’s a fair request.”

Gaige led him to the bathroom and left him with a towel and clean clothes. He turned on the shower and stepped under the warm spray of water, intending to take a fast shower. But as the water washed over him, he closed his eyes and tipped his head against the wall of the stall.

It felt like he’d wake up any moment, in his apartment with Jack walking around his room bitching about work. He’d sit up and realize it was all a dream, and as the dream started to fade, he’d slip back into his role of Handsome Jack.

He turned the temperature of the water down until it felt like icicles digging into his skin. But still he didn’t wake up.

This wasn’t a dream. He’d signed his life away, and Gaige had gotten it back for him.

“Timothy Lawrence,” he whispered.

Jack called him “Tim” only to avoid the confusion of them both being Jack. He always had a certain mocking tone to his voice when he said the name, a reminder that it meant nothing anymore. Timothy didn’t exist. It was just a name Jack owned now.

But Gaige had gotten it back for him. He shut the water off, running his hands through his hair and looking down at a body that was his but not his.

He’d have to make it his own again. He’d have to cling to what little remained of Timothy Lawrence and go from there. He didn’t know how to be anyone but Jack anymore.

But he didn’t want to be Jack. He didn’t want to kill teenage girls with green eyes. He didn’t want to torture vault hunters who risked themselves to come save nameless doppelgangers.

Tim dried himself off and pulled on the clean clothes. He left the bathroom, trying to style his hair with his hands, knowing it would dry and become a mess anyways. Jack’s hair could be a pain in the ass without product to style it correctly.

Gaige and Axton were waiting for him outside. Gaige handed him a jacket, which he slipped into and flipped up the hood of. He knew he couldn’t be seen walking around Sanctuary.

They led him outside, Gaige in front of him and Axton behind him. They walked to the fast travel station, where all evidence of Tim’s escape had been cleaned up.

“Wait, isn’t he still guarding the fast travel stations?” Tim said, stopping Gaige before she could approach the station.

“No, we started attacking them at random until he gave up. When we came as a group, they couldn’t call in reinforcements fast enough,” Gaige said. “It was a waste of his time and resources. Plus, it was annoying as hell.”

She entered a destination for them and Tim closed his eyes as they were whisked off to wherever his friends were being kept. When he opened his eyes, he recognized the barren land of the Dust.

“There ya’ll are!”

He turned as a woman approached them. He looked at the garage behind her, and around at the piles of junk. This was as good a place as any to keep Jay and Blue from causing any harm.

“Is that him?” the woman asked, gesturing to Tim.

“This is Tim. The watch belongs to him,” Gaige said. “Tim, that’s Ellie.”

“Ain’t exactly how I pictured Jack’s face to look,” Ellie said, eyeing his scar. “Anyways, your watch is where Gaige left it. I seen them digistructs summoned on their own a few times.”

“Jack,” Tim said angrily.

“Come on, this way,” Gaige said, tugging him along. “Ellie, we need to use one of your computers. Something disposable, preferably.”

“I’ll give it to the big guy,” Ellie said, dragging Axton along behind her as she headed for the garage.

“I guess now’s a good time to tell you this,” Gaige said as they walked around back. “We tried to track down Athena. We didn’t get in touch with her, but it turns out our mechanic Scooter has been in touch with her girlfriend Janey Springs about taking over one of his locations in Hollow Point.”

“Janey,” Tim said in surprise. “She’s not on Elpis?”

“Not currently,” Gaige said. “We told her a…shortened version of events. Said we’d tell her everything in person. She said she’ll help you.”

Tim stopped walking, the shock too great for him to focus on using his legs. “She did?” he whispered.

Of course she did. Because Janey was a good person. Janey was the type of person who saw a stranger crash land on the moon and saved his life.

Tim had been surrounded by shitty people for so long that it was hard to comprehend someone would actually help him. Did she expect something in return?

Guilt followed that thought. She wasn’t that type of person.

“Come on,” Gaige said, leading him along again. “We’ll contact her when you’re done fixing Jay and Blue.”

They walked out for a little while, and Gaige led him to a pile of trash. She opened a rusty safe in the pile and took the watch out, handing it to him.

Tim held the watch in his hand, grateful to have it back in his possession. He restrained himself from summoning them, instead waiting for Axton to come over with a laptop.

Tim sat down on the ground and plugged the watch in to the laptop. He’d never been a coding genius, but he’d learned a lot from working with Jack. Jack had taught him how to code the watch so he could make repairs. He was familiar with the layout of the watch’s programming, though being able to deny Jack access might be tricky.

The digi-Jacks suddenly sprang to life, and only rolling with the laptop sparred it from being destroyed and him from being knocked unconscious. Jay aimed his weapons at Axton and Gaige while Blue aimed his at Tim.

“Tim, you should’ve destroyed us,” Jay said, his expression dropping. “Why did you come back for us?”

“Because you’re my friends,” Tim said simply.

“We have orders to knock you unconscious, kill whoever is with you, and signal Jack,” Blue said, eyes darting to the laptop. “Unplug the watch, Tim. Before we have to contact Jack.”

Tim quickly scrolled through their code, throwing himself into it as Blue moved ever closer to him. If he could just…

“Sorry about this,” he said, and scrambled the code.

Blue and Jay flickered out of existence. Tim had anticipated their arrival when he plugged the watch in, so he’d tried to find the code that summoned them as fast as possible.

“What happened?” Gaige asked, lowering the gun she’d drawn.

“I scrambled the code. They shouldn’t be able to be summoned until I fix it,” he said, focusing back on the code. “This could take a while.”

Gaige and Axton sat down, guns in their laps. They were ready if the digi-Jacks reappeared, though their weapons would be useless.

Tim recalled everything Jack had taught him, and everything he’d learned from impersonating Jack. He’d had to read through reports, breaking down projects into pure code. He’d been forced to learn to keep up his Jack façade in front of employees and clients. He could do this. He just had to focus.

There was a firewall in place over the more sensitive areas of the code, but Tim was surprised at how easy it was for him to get past. Was it there to stop Angel? Did Jack’s paranoia cause him to keep her out?

He couldn’t think on it. He just let himself become absorbed in the programming that dictated his two best friends.

There was no shade where they were, and Tim felt sweat rolling down his skin, but still he did not tear his eyes away from the screen. His broken wrist ached from the typing, but Tim had endured much worse pain, and so he ignored the throbbing as it grew worse. Axton and Gaige didn’t speak or bother him.

“Done,” he said, what felt like years later, leaning back and wiping sweat from his head. “I think. I hope.”

Gaige checked the time. “Well, that only took a few hours. Let’s test it out.”

He fixed the code he’d scrambled earlier and swiped at his watch. His heart slammed as red and blue lights surged forth and took on the forms of Blue and Jay.

Blue stormed over to him, weapon raised. Jay followed suit.

“You idiot!” Blue snapped as Tim stared at them, his heart sinking. Blue stood before Tim, laser pointed right at his face. “You let us knock you out! You should’ve destroyed the watch!”

The two dropped to their knees so they were level with Tim, and hugged him. Tim’s eyes widened and he threw his arms around their solidified forms, burying his head against Blue’s shoulder and squeezing his eyes shut.

“I did it,” he said, voice shaking. “Fuck, please tell me I did it.”

“You did it,” Jay said. “Fuck Jack. We don’t listen to him anymore. He won't be able to fix the code without access to the watch.”

“Sorry about…” Blue lightly touched the bruise on Tim’s head.

Tim laughed weakly. “Shit, I don’t care about that. You guys are back. And not trying to beat the shit out of me.”

Maybe they did only care about him because their programming bled into their personality. Tim didn’t care. They cared, they would never harm him, and they’d been the only ones trying to protect him in the hell that had been his life the past few years.

“I hope you know I’m going to demand to know everything about their programming,” Gaige said, poking at Jay’s shoulder.

“Yea, sure, I’ll tell you any-freaking-thing,” Tim said, so relieved to have his friends back. He got to his feet and latched the watch back onto his wrist, the light weight of it against his skin a familiar comfort.

“Your fever is gone. No lasting damage,” Blue said. “You just need to recover your strength now.”

“I haven’t puked up my meal yet, so that’s a good start,” Tim said.

“What happens to him now?” Jay asked Gaige and Axton.

“We contact Janey Springs,” Gaige said.

“Janey?” Jay said in surprise, looking to Tim for confirmation.

“Yea, I was shocked too,” Tim admitted. “I don’t know if Athena knows she’s helping me. I doubt she’d be happy. I’m sure she’d love to wash her hands of me.”

“What about Aurelia?” Blue asked.

Tim raised an eyebrow. “You do realize that she’d just use me to wipe her feet on, right?”

“A fair point,” Blue said. “Janey it is.”

“Let’s get you back to Sanctuary,” Gaige said.

As they walked back towards Ellie’s, Tim realized that Gaige didn’t have her gun out just because of the digi-Jacks. She was on guard in case Jack somehow discovered where they were.

He heard a gunshot and looked over his shoulder as Axton smashed the laptop and shot it again for good measure. He kicked it into the junk pile and followed after them.

They returned to the garage and Ellie eyed the digi-Jacks. She pointed at Blue’s chin.

“Ma dated Jack with that thing on his face?” she said.

“Uh…your mom dated Jack?” Tim said.

“Yea, Moxxi an’ him dated,” she said.

Tim’s mouth dropped open. “Moxxi? Moxxi is your mom?”

“Close your mouth before anymore drool comes out,” Ellie said, snorting at his expression.

Gaige rolled her eyes and grabbed him by the jacket. “Let’s get going before you make an even bigger fool of yourself.”

“Well, she’s pretty,” Tim said in defense. “Back me up, Axton.”

“Not really my type,” Axton said.

“His type is his ex,” Gaige said, nudging Axton. “Seriously, man, move on from her already. I’ll hook you up with someone.”

“I can get with someone myself if I want to,” Axton said.

“That girl that always sits in the corner of Moxxi’s bar? Totally eyes you. Oh, oh, or that guy that’s always randomly pounding on the door when we walk around? Definitely wishes he was pounding you instead. I see him watching your ass,” Gaige said.

Axton promptly put a hand over her mouth to quiet her, shaking his head. Gaige tried to pry his hand off, but Tim made no moves to help her, just as grateful for the silence.

“Go back in the watch for now. We don’t need anyone on Sanctuary to see you,” Tim said to his friends. “And it’s…good to have you guys back. Without you trying to knock me out and drag me back to Jack.”

“Try not to get poisoned again,” Blue said, but he was smiling as he disappeared. Jay put a hand on his shoulder before also disappearing back into the watch.

Tim flipped the hood up and the three called their goodbyes to Ellie before traveling back to Sanctuary. They returned to the Crimson Raider HQ and Tim took the jacket off.

“Gaige,” Roland said, eyes flicking from her to the watch on Tim’s wrist. “I’m trusting you on this.”

“I’ll be someone else’s headache soon enough from the sounds of things,” Tim said.

“I do appreciate what you tried to do for our people. But…” Roland shrugged. “You understand.”

Tim did. Roland had been leading the resistance against Jack for a while, and now Jack’s trusted doppelganger was in his HQ, armed with a digistruct watch.

“You, go tell Roland and Lilith about the Bunker’s defenses while I call Janey Springs,” Gaige said, shoving at Tim.

Tim followed Roland upstairs and sat down with him and Lilith. He explained the defenses, as he had to Gaige and Axton earlier. They listened attentively, asking him questions which he mostly didn’t know the answers to.

By the time he’d finished, Gaige had come into the room and stood in the corner. She gestured at him to get up.

“We’re taking him to meet up with Janey tomorrow,” she informed Lilith and Roland. “If you need anything else from him, better get it while you can. We leave early.”

“Where are we meeting her?” Tim asked, his stomach twisting with anxiety. He hadn’t seen her in so long. Would she be ashamed of who he’d become?

“I’m not sure. She said she’ll give the coordinates to Scooter,” Gaige said.

Tim nodded slowly. Janey probably didn’t trust him not to give away their location to Jack. It would take years to rebuild any sense of credibility to his name.

Being Handsome Jack was so much easier.

But he looked to Gaige and steeled himself. Being Handsome Jack meant being a monster who stood by while girls with their whole lives ahead of them begged him not to let them die. Timothy Lawrence had never been a particularly brave man, but he’d at least held some morals. Jack had none. Tim didn’t want to be that kind of man, despite how easy and safe it was.

Gaige led him back downstairs and pointed to the bed he’d woken up in. “Sleep. We’re up early tomorrow.”

“I’m not even tired,” he said, but as soon as he laid down, he realized that was a lie. His body was still recovering, and being up for so long today had drained him more than he’d acknowledged.

“Well, I am. So shut it,” she said, collapsing onto the bed next to him and dragging the covers over herself.

Tim laid in the bed, staring up at the ceiling. He didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, or how Janey would react to him.

He listened as the others slowly came in to go to sleep. Axton came down first, taking the bed on Gaige’s other side. Then Salvador came in, and was snoring within two minutes of hitting a bed. Maya and Krieg came in and chose their beds. A few Raiders he didn’t recognize came in, and Tim turned his face away from them just to be safe.

For all the people surrounding him in the darkness, he felt alone. He dreaded that kind of feeling, so he focused his eyes on the back of Gaige’s head and reminded himself that he wasn’t alone anymore. He put his hand over his watch, careful not to accidentally summon Blue and Jay.

He felt confused and overwhelmed by everything that had happened. Not that long ago, he’d been Handsome Jack, able to easily slip into his persona and go about his cruelty. He’d wiped guilt from his mind and carried himself through the days with thoughtless violence. He did whatever he had to in order to please Jack and keep himself alive and indispensable.

He missed Jack.

He couldn’t lie to himself about that.

If he was with Jack right now, he wondered what they’d be doing. Late night work? Paying an employee a surprise visit for their poor performance? Sitting in the living room, bitching about the day?

“See? Someone gets it!” Jack would say whenever Tim agreed with what he was saying. “Shit, Nisha’s great at sex but horrible at understanding how much of a pain it is to run Hyperion. At least you get it, Timmy.”

And Tim did get it, because he’d slipped into the role of Handsome Jack, Hyperion CEO. He was Jack’s most trusted confident. Jack would kick his feet up into Tim’s lap and groan about upcoming business he had to handle, or how much of a headache the Sanctuary bandits had become.

Tim sat up, unable to bear his thoughts any longer. He felt desperate, confused, afraid. He crept out of the bed and upstairs, to where there was a broken off chunk of Sanctuary outside. He didn’t dare step out onto it and give himself a panic attack over the height, but he sat in the doorway with his head turned away from the view, the wind cool against his skin.

“Can’t sleep?”

Gaige stepped over him and sat next to him, blocking his view of the vast expanse of sky. He nodded.

“I miss him,” he admitted.

“Because he’s all you’ve known for years. Did you know he plotted the assassination attempts against you?” she said.

He felt like he’d been struck. “What?”

“Angel told us,” Gaige said. “Jack wanted to make you loyal, and he needed to break you and push you right into his arms to do it. You miss him because he conditioned you to miss him.”

Tim couldn’t quite comprehend what she’d said to him. He didn’t want to comprehend it.

“I can’t live a normal life again,” he said instead.

“So don’t,” she said, shrugging. “I can’t either. But I’m making my own way out of what I was left with.”

“What happened to you? How did you end up on Pandora as a vault hunter?” he asked, realizing he didn’t actually know.

She gave a bitter smile. “Well, uh, I kind of screwed up at a school thing. Only one person died, though!”

“Uh…died? Maybe we went to really different schools, but can you elaborate a bit more?” Tim said.

Gaige laughed and told him the story of how she’d ended up here in this situation. Tim tipped his head back as she told him how her dad helped her get away when it all happened.

“He sounds like a good man,” he said.

“He is,” Gaige said. “I’ll get back to him. Someday.”

Tim was glad Gaige had a loving father. She was so young. She deserved to know someone in the world loved her and cared about what happened to her.

“Hey, what’d you look like before?” Gaige asked. “Maybe we can get your old face back.”

“If you want to blow this one up and kill me, sure, go for it,” he said. Then he frowned and looked away from her. “I…don’t really remember much anymore. I had freckles. I miss them.” He tipped his head back. “I guess I’m stuck with this scarred face forever. Maybe I’ll find some way to cash in on it. I could always do porn.”

Gaige laughed and elbowed him in the ribs. “Please, like anyone would want to watch Handsome Jack-based porn.”

“Hey, you never know,” Tim said. “You clearly haven’t met the employees on Helios. They’re all ready to suck the guy’s dick. It’s actually pretty uncomfortable.”

“Ew, okay, listen, I don’t want think about Handsome Jack’s sex life,” Gaige said, but she was still laughing. Tim was glad he could make her laugh.

He smiled and shrugged. He felt better, just being able to talk and joke around. It was a normalcy his life had lacked for far too long.

So the two of them sat and talked all night, until Gaige fell asleep against his shoulder. Tim closed his eyes, uncomfortable but unwilling to move and wake her up.

Everything was so different so suddenly. It would be hard to adjust, but Gaige would help him. It might take years, but someday he’d be free of Handsome Jack. Someday he’d just be Timothy Lawrence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've been working on a new Tim-focused story that I hope to post when this one ends, but I've also grown really attached to Gaige and Tim as friends?? So would anyone be interested in a collection of one-shots featuring this idea, or possibly a sort of sequel taking place during the events of Borderlands 3? Please let me know!


	17. Chapter 17

Someone nudged Tim and he opened his eyes. His back and neck were sore, but he realized Gaige was still leaning on him, so he didn’t stretch yet.

Axton shook his shoulder hard enough that it shook Gaige as well. She reached out and smacked Tim without opening her eyes.

“Wasn’t me, kiddo,” Tim said in irritation, smacking her right back.

She peeked an eye open, reached across him, smacked Axton, and then smacked Tim once more for good measure before closing her eye again.

“It’s time to get going, Gaige,” Axton said, stepping over Tim so he could pull Gaige to her feet.

“No wonder your wife divorced you,” Gaige whined, shoving him off of her and rubbing her eyes. “What time is it?”

“Time for you to stop reminding me that my wife divorced me,” Axton said, scowling. “Also early. Very early. We need to move.”

Tim stretched, grimacing at the popping and cracking of his joints. He stood up, running a hand through his hair.

“Alright, alright, let’s go before I go collapse on a bed,” Gaige said, shivering as a breeze rushed through.

The three went downstairs, where the others were still sleeping. They left the HQ, and were greeted by Lilith and Roland.

“Here,” Roland said, handing a piece of paper to Axton. “That’s your meeting point with Janey.”

Gaige snatched it from Axton and looked it over before sticking it in her pocket. “Right, well, we’ll be back later. We’ll take a longer route so Jack can’t track where we’re going.”

“If you need backup, let us know,” Lilith said.

Tim couldn’t bring himself to thank them. He knew if it wasn’t for Gaige, he’d still be captive at their mercy. Maybe dead inside the Bunker, no longer of use to them. So he just kept his mouth shut.

But Lilith met his eyes, the kind of person who could feel guilt for what she’d done yet carry on despite it all. “Thanks for the info on the Bunker.”

Tim supposed he’d always be the cowardly Timothy Lawrence, as he looked away from her and shrugged. “Sure.”

“Let’s go,” Gaige said, tugging him along towards the fast travel station.

Roland and Lilith watched them go, and Tim was grateful when they turned the corner and were out of sight. He’d never been good at facing his own guilt.

His heart started to beat faster as he realized he’d have to face Janey, and possibly Athena. How could he ever look either of them in the eyes? He’d stayed with Jack. When Athena left, Tim didn’t. After everything they saw, Tim stayed.

He could tell himself it was the money, sure. He could tell himself it was the fear. Of course Jack would want his expensive doppelganger back. And maybe it had been those things at first. Jack gave him a raise, and he was under contract to stay as the body double for several more years.

But after the branding, Tim knew it was more. It was hatred, a desire for revenge. It was Jack’s words, his mother’s laughter, both ringing in his head, a soundtrack from hell. It was the knowledge that if he left, he had no where to go. He had no life to return to. Timothy Lawrence was legally dead. If he fled from Jack, he’d be alone and on the run from a man who killed without hesitation.

So he stayed. And he became Handsome Jack. And he became afraid to be anyone else, because anyone else might be lonely and weak.

Timothy Lawrence could get in a moonshot cannon. Timothy Lawrence could face down vault monsters on the moon. Timothy Lawrence could do a lot of brave things.

But Timothy Lawrence was a coward at his core.

“Tim?”

He wasn’t aware he’d stopped moving until Gaige put a hand on his shoulder. He could see the fast travel station, so close.

If he left, there was no coming back.

“Tim?” Gaige repeated, shaking his shoulder.

He looked at her, trying to hide his fear behind the only façade he knew. As Gaige watched the cold look claim his face, she glared at him.

“Don’t give me that look,” she said. Then she sighed. “Tim, I get it. I mean, I don’t, but I’m trying to guess. You’re scared to see Janey again, aren’t you?”

Tim opened his mouth to spit back a Jack-like retort. But he stopped himself with difficulty, dropping his gaze.

“She met a different man,” Tim said at last. “That man doesn’t exist anymore.”

“Being Handsome Jack might seem easier, but we both know it’s killing you,” Gaige said. “You told me not to let him get you back. So even if you don’t want to go see Janey, I’m going to drag your ass there because it’s what’s best right now.” Gaige grabbed his chin and forced him to meet her eyes. “If you go back to Jack, he’ll kill Blue and Jay. He’ll torture you, and then send you after us. Is that the life you want to live, Timothy?”

It wasn’t. He put his hand over his watch.

“Move your feet, bitch,” Gaige said, kicking lightly at his legs. “We’ve got places to be.”

He reluctantly started walking again. He felt anxious and on edge, feelings he could repress if he just slipped into that familiar Jack persona. But Jack wanted to hurt Gaige. Becoming Jack meant being a monster who would willingly harm Gaige.

So he stayed the cowardly Timothy Lawrence, who felt sick to his stomach as the fast travel station took them away from Sanctuary. They reappeared at the Dust, Ellie’s garage behind them. Ellie was nowhere in sight.

Gaige digistructed them a vehicle and they got in, Axton driving. He tossed a bag back to Gaige as she and Tim settled in.

Gaige opened it and passed Tim a water bottle and two breakfast bars. Tim didn’t feel hungry, so he set the bars beside him and instead just sipped on the water as they drove over the vast land.

“Hey, so you said you’re an actor, right? What kind of things did you act in?” Gaige asked.

He knew the conversation was just to distract him from his own thoughts, but he obliged. He told Gaige about the various little productions he’d been apart of, and she laughed and teased him over some of his roles.

She told him about some of her experiments and how she’d created Deathtrap. Tim was honestly impressed by how smart Gaige was for age, but teased her right back about being a nerd.

“You cannot call me a nerd,” Gaige said. “You were a fucking actor!”

“But not a fucking nerd,” Tim said.

“I am not a fucking nerd. Fuck you.”

“Language.”

“Fuck you too, Axton.”

Tim opened a breakfast bar, feeling a little better and deciding to risk eating. Gaige and Axton were bickering about Gaige’s language, and Tim turned his head to look out at the world around them.

They’d left the Dust, though Tim couldn’t even guess at where they were hoping to get to. He finished his breakfast bar and rested his head against the seat, closing his eyes. He tuned out Gaige and Axton and instead focused on the wind blowing past them and the sound of the vehicle’s engine.

“Tim.”

Tim opened his eyes, but he wasn’t in the vehicle anymore. He was in his bed in Helios.

“Jack?” he mumbled, sitting up.

Jack was standing in front of the bed, holding Tim’s mask out to him. “You forgot something, champ.”

Tim reached for the mask, but before he could grab it, it leapt from Jack’s hand and clung to his face. Tim tried to claw it off, but it had dug into his skin.

“You’re Handsome Jack, kiddo,” Jack said, stalking towards him with a wicked grin. “They’re dead. They’re all dead, Timmy.”

“No,” Tim whispered.

And he wasn’t in his room in Helios anymore. He was in the Preserve, and there were bodies all over the ground. A broken Constructor was behind him.

“Tim,” it cried out, the voice Felicity’s. “Make a copy. Please make a copy.”

Tim tried to back away, but he stumbled over another body. He looked down at his own mother’s face.

She began to laugh, dead eyes locking onto his as her laughter grew. Tim couldn’t move his legs.

“Help me,” a voice choked out.

Tim looked over and there laid Gaige. Or was it that unnamed girl? All he could focus on were the green eyes and the trembling hand reaching out for him.

“Jack, help,” she said, and blood leaked from her lips. “Don’t let me die. Help.”

He didn’t move. He didn’t even try.

He sank to his knees and covered his ears, but still the laughter and the pleas reached him. He tried to ask them to stop, but they wouldn’t stop, they wouldn’t.

He clawed at his face again, desperate to get the mask off, to make it all go away. He didn’t want to be Handsome Jack or Timothy Lawrence or anybody at all. He didn’t want to exist.

A sharp pain came from his arm and he opened his eyes, jerking forward. Gaige pulled her hand away from him and he looked down. She’d pinched him hard enough to draw blood.

“You were having a nightmare,” she said, but didn’t ask him any questions.

He felt his face, where there was no mask, only the scar. He rubbed his eyes and stuck his head out of the window to get some air.

His face hurt and he touched his cheek. There were light scratches there.

It was going to be a long recovery process.

***

They didn’t speak for a while. Gaige fell asleep for a while before waking up and switching with Axton so that he could nap. They switched back once Axton was rested. Tim didn’t close his eyes again.

He’d suffered nightmares before, but when his screaming and violent wakeups irritated Jack, Jack gave him pills. After that, his dreams were a blissful darkness. He never asked what was in the pills. Anything that silenced his guilt in his most vulnerable hours was welcome.

But he didn’t have pills anymore, so he kept himself awake, at least for now. He finished off his other breakfast bar and half his water. He listened to the music that Gaige put on for them. He did whatever he could to distract his mind.

“Hey,” Gaige said, flicking him in the shoulder. “Let’s play a game.”

“A game?” he said, finally breaking his silence.

“Yea,” she said, taking a deck of cards out of her bag. “Pick your poison.”

“Did you really just say that to me?” Tim said, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh…right, bad choice of words,” she said, frowning.

“At least wait until it’s been a freaking week since I was poisoned,” he said, taking the cards from her and shuffling them. “Black Jack? No, also a bad choice. Shit, we’re both bad at his.”

“Let’s just play Go Fish,” Gaige said, taking the cards back and dealing them out.

“I’m sorry, I forgot we were five,” Tim said.

“Shut up and tell me if you have any twos,” she said, looking at her hand.

The two played back and forth. It was a simple, childish game, but it distracted him so he played along. It was only when he saw her cards’ reflection in the window that he hid his grin behind his own cards and allowed himself some fun.

“Got any threes?” he asked as he neared the end of his hand.

“Nope,” Gaige said.

“Yes you do,” Tim said.

“I KNEW you were cheating!” she said, throwing her cards at his face. “You cheated at a children’s card game, you monster!”

“Me?” Tim said innocently.

“I’m going to push you out of this vehicle. I’m going to run you over after I push you out. I’m going to run you over a second time after that,” she said.

“Well, someone’s a sore loser,” Tim said.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Fuck you, Timothy. And fuck your language policing, Axton!”

“I didn’t even say anything!” Axton said.

“But you thought about it. I know you did,” Gaige said.

Tim gathered up the cards and put them back into Gaige’s bag, fairly certain that was over with. Gaige was trying to hide a smile as she continued to rant about how much of a cheater he was, and Tim let her have her fun with it. She called him some very creative curse words, which had Axton gripping the steering wheel tightly as he bit back his protests at her language.

“Hey,” Axton said, interrupting Gaige. “We’re here.”

Tim looked out the window. It had grown dark outside, so it was hard to make out where they were. He furrowed his brow.

“Hollow Point?” he said.

“She’s meeting us here,” Gaige said.

His anxiety crept back in, and he picked up his water bottle just to have something in his hands. Axton slowed their vehicle as he drove the dark streets of Hollow Point. Tim memorized the route in case he had to make a quick escape. Habit.

Axton pulled into a Catch-A-Ride garage. The garage door was pulled shut behind them, and Gaige got out of the vehicle, urging Tim to follow her.

His feet touched the ground and he had the sudden urge to run. He forced himself to stay put, setting his water bottle back in the vehicle.

“Gaige, I take it?”

The voice was painfully familiar. Tim didn’t dare look up.

“That’s me!” Gaige said. “This is Axton. And I think you already know this guy.”

Gaige shoved him forward, and Tim was suddenly far too aware of the scar claiming his face. He couldn’t retreat into the Handsome Jack façade, but he wasn’t sure what else to do. So he just kept his eyes fixed on his own feet.

He felt a gentle hand on his cheek, and flinched despite himself. Janey guided his face until he was looking at her. She took her hand from his cheek and traced along the outside of his scar.

“Your eye?” she said.

“He spared it. Because I’m a sniper,” Tim said. “It’s not a fake.”

To his surprise, she beamed a smile at him. “Good. Then you can fully see and appreciate those old posters I have of you!”

He couldn’t help but groan. “Janey, you didn’t get rid of those?”

She pulled him into a hug. “Nope. Good to see you again. Tim, is it?”

“Yea. It is,” Tim said, hesitantly hugging her back. “Thanks for, uh, helping my ass out again.”

“Timothy.”

Tim jerked away from Janey and looked up at Athena. She had her arms crossed, leaning against the wall but watching him carefully as he interacted with her girlfriend.

“It’s weird to call you that. Back then, you were just Jack,” she said. “Or, ‘Jimothy’, if I remember.”

“Legally, I couldn’t be Timothy,” Tim reminded, trying to hide his nerves.

“Who are you now?” Athena asked.

“I…don’t know,” Tim admitted. “I’m trying to be Timothy again. It’s not easy.”

“Jack branded you?” Athena said. “And you stayed with him?”

“A lot happened, Athena. Besides, you always knew I was a coward,” he said.

“You left eventually. That counts for something,” she said, surprising him. “We’ll get you somewhere safe. I have a contact on Eden-6.”

“She’s a softie,” Janey said, winking at Tim. Athena glared at her.

“Eden-6?” Gaige said. “Where the Jakobs corporation acts out of? You better send me a good shotgun.”

It hit him then that he was really going to be separated from Gaige. He would be on his own, starting over with no one to help him. He wouldn’t be Jack or Timothy, just some gray area in between the two, struggling with no one there to help him.

His breathing hitched a little, but Gaige put a steady hand on his shoulder. She guided him away from the others, and Axton stepped forward to talk with them.

“You have them,” she said, gesturing to his watch. “This isn’t permanent, Tim. It’s just until we take care of Jack. Besides, we already planned it. With the digi-Jacks under your control now, you should be able to plug them into your ECHO and have them scramble the frequency so Jack can’t listen in or track it if we talk.”

Tim gave a slow nod. “I don’t know how to…start over.”

“You’ll figure it out,” Gaige assured. “And if you start to think about being an asshole again, you can call me and I’ll swear at you until you’re over the temptation.”

He nearly smiled at that, but he was still scared. He didn’t want to be alone again.

“Tim, you’ll be okay,” Gaige promised. “You’re not alone. I’ll talk to you every day if you’re that clingy.” She smiled a little, nudging him. “We can play Go-Fish over the ECHO and see if you can win without cheating.”

Tim touched his face, fingers tracing the scar. He’d never imagined he’d get his life back, and now that he had, he wasn’t sure what to do with it.

“Tim, I know you’ll be fine,” Gaige said.

And the sincerity on her face made him want to be fine. He didn’t want to disappoint her.

Because she wasn’t that green-eyed girl who pleaded for him to save her. She was Gaige the vault hunter, young and brilliant, and the girl who saved his life. She rescued the scraps of Timothy Lawrence and genuinely believed the broken man before her could become someone to be proud of.

They hugged each other. It was a silent action, just arms around each other, a reassurance that they’d both make it through whatever came next. It was a goodbye, but not a permanent one.

“Don’t die, or I’m going to be real pissed off, kiddo,” Tim said.

“Don’t be a massive dick again, or I’m going to be real pissed off, asshole,” she said.

They released each other and stepped back. Tim was anxious and unsure, but willing to give Timothy Lawrence one more try. Gaige knew it would be hard for him, but she believed he’d make it.

They walked back over to Janey and Athena. Athena gave him a knowing look, but said nothing more on the topic. She knew enough about what Jack was like to guess how hard it would be for Tim to recover.

“We’ll take him out tonight,” Janey said to Gaige, slinging an arm around Tim and pulling him closer.

“The face will be hard to hide with that scar on it, but we’ll figure something out,” Athena said. “We’ll make sure no one recognizes him.”

“Good freaking luck,” Tim grumbled. “I have the vault symbol branded into my face. It’s a little hard to be inconspicuous.”

“We’ll figure something out,” Athena repeated.

“Well, good luck,” Axton said to Tim. “Thanks for not letting a giant statue of Jack crush me.”

“Our humble beginnings,” Tim said.

“I’ll talk to you later,” Gaige promised, holding a fist out to Tim.

He punched his own against it. “Sure, kiddo. Get better at Go Fish.”

“Fuck you,” she said, but she was smiling.

“Yea, fuck you too,” he said, returning the smile.

They’d make it. Somehow, they’d make it through this. Tim was terrified, but Gaige’s smile made him believe it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have started writing a sequel to this story! It takes place during the events of Borderlands 3, and I plan to post the first chapter of it just before the last chapter of this story so you can dive right in if you're interested :)


	18. Chapter 18

They hid his hair beneath a hat, and gave him contact lenses so that both his eyes appeared hazel. They explained the scar on his face as the result of a bandit attack on Pandora where he’d been working with a geological crew. He pretended the attack had damaged his throat and left him mute to hide his voice.

It was a weak cover story, but the people he worked alongside on Eden-6 had heard horror stories of Pandora, and so they bought it with few questions. Athena used her connections here to make sure he was with a group of workers that had lived on Eden-6 for decades, none of them ever traveling to Pandora. If there was even a chance that he might’ve been discovered, Athena had several contingency plans in place.

He helped cut down trees for the Jakobs corporation, and it was tiring, repetitive work that he enjoyed. It kept him busy, and when his shift was over, he was often too tired to think.

He talked with Gaige at night on his ECHO, and if she was busy in a battle, he summoned Blue and Jay. If he got too restless, he’d wander around until he’d picked a fight with a group of jabbers to let off some steam and let Blue and Jay get some excitement.

It was a simple life. It was unfamiliar nowadays, but he tried to embrace it.

***

“How’s it going there?” Gaige asked.

“I’m…struggling,” Tim admitted. “I miss him. I miss knowing what to do and how to act.”

“Let’s play Go Fish. If you cheat, I’ll digistruct myself through this damn fucking ECHO and punch your face so hard the soul patch will come back,” Gaige said.

“That’s…quite the effective threat. I’m not risking that stupid thing on my chin again,” he said.

They played Go Fish, and Tim told Gaige about his day. Gaige told him he was a lumberjack, he told her to fuck off, and she was too busy laughing to notice that he was using Blue and Jay to help him cheat.

She stopped laughing when she realized. Tim started laughing. This life had its perks.

***

“Did you know Angel was a person?” Gaige asked.

“No,” Tim said.

“Did you know Jack had a daughter?” Gaige asked.

Tim thought of the picture of the little girl on Jack’s desk. “No.”

“She’s dead,” Gaige said, her voice flat.

Tim couldn’t say sorry. He hadn’t killed her. He hadn’t know she was a real person, or that she was Jack’s own daughter. All he’d known was that a Siren was charging the vault key.

“Roland is dead, and Jack has Lilith,” Gaige said.

Tim closed his eyes.

“I’m going to kill Jack,” Gaige said.

“I know,” Tim said.

They stayed on the line for a while, but neither of them spoke again.

***

“We’re going to the vault,” Gaige said. “This ends now, Tim.”

Tim couldn’t picture Jack dead. Tim didn’t want to picture Gaige dead. So instead, he pictured the graceful arc of the tree he and the others had felled that morning.

“I’m going to kill Jack,” she said.

“I’m not Jack,” he felt compelled to say.

“I know. And now you never will be again,” she said.

It offered him little comfort. They ended the call.

***

He hadn’t heard from Gaige in a while, and he was worried.

He worked harder than usual, eager to distract his negative thoughts. When the day ended, his muscles were sore. He couldn’t wait for a hot shower and a long rest. If he was lucky. Most nights, the dreams woke him frequently, covered in sweat and throat hoarse from yelling.

He hadn’t exactly made friends here. He was too afraid to. They’d find out who he was.

But he did occasionally sit and drink a beer with them on their breaks. They’d rope his voiceless self into the conversation, taking his nodding and head shaking as participation. They knew him only as the solitary mute, unable to speak his name.

If the vault hunters were dead, would Jack find him here? They’d fed him false leads that they’d hidden Tim on Promethea. Gaige confirmed that Jack had sent people to search for him. Tim wondered how many people died because Jack thought he was there.

Jack had kept his searches to Promethea, Elpis, and Pandora. It was too risky for him to come to Eden-6, because Hyperion forces showing up would risk Jakobs retaliating. Jack was too busy with his vault plans to focus on a war right now.

Tim tried to shake it out of his head. Jack wouldn’t find him here. The vault hunters weren’t dead. They wouldn’t let themselves be killed.

Tim headed back towards the little cabin the vault hunters helped him buy. It was small, but comfortably isolated. He could speak without risking a neighbor hearing his voice. He could summon Blue and Jay without risking them being seen.

The cabin was dark, as night had fallen over Eden-6. Tim unlocked the door and went inside, ready to collapse. He flicked the light on, and startled backwards, reaching for his holster out of sheer habit before freezing.

Gaige stared at him. He stared back.

“You are a lumberjack,” she said at last.

“A lumber-Jack,” he said, and unholstered his gun, tossing it to her. “Just shoot me before I can register that joke in my own brain, please.”

She caught the gun and set it down. “Jack is dead.”

Tim had been expecting it, but he still found himself sitting in the nearest chair, unable to stand. He touched his scarred face.

“We got Lilith back,” Gaige continued. “We killed the Warrior. Then we let Lilith finish Jack off.”

“Jack’s dead,” Tim said hollowly.

“But Timothy isn’t,” Gaige said.

“Timothy,” Tim said slowly. He shook his head. “Gaige, I still don’t know who Timothy is. The mute with the ugly scar that cuts down trees all day?”

“Maybe,” Gaige said, standing up and going over to him. She put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m not sorry he’s dead. He tortured Angel. He tortured you. He killed Roland.”

“Now what will you do?” he asked, looking up at her.

“I’m a vault hunter,” she said, smiling a little. “I’ll keep doing what I do best. There’s a lot of aftermath to take care of. Want to come back to Pandora?”

He gestured to his face. “Better not. Maybe when things settle down.”

“You can always fall back on the pornstar thing,” she said with a shrug. She knocked the hat off his head and sighed. “Maybe not. You need a haircut.”

“Guess so,” he said, running a hand through his hair.

“Is there anyway to reverse this?” Gaige asked, poking his face.

He swatted her hand away. “Only if you want to blow my face up.”

He was trying to comprehend that Jack was really dead. Jack, who had backup plans for his backup plans. Jack, who was cold and calculating, always prepared for anything. Jack, who survived the vault on Elpis even when it was burned into his flesh.

“I wonder if he thought about me again,” Tim found himself whispering.

“He didn’t give up on his search for you,” Gaige said, her tone suddenly bitter. “He kept taunting us over our ECHOs that he was going to find you and make you kill us. That hiding you was just a waste of time.”

“What if it was?” Tim said, suddenly feeling scared and helpless. “What if I can’t be anyone but him?”

“Shut up,” Gaige said, lightly smacking the back of his head. “You cheat at Go Fish, you make stupid jokes, and sometimes you’re an asshole. That doesn’t make you Handsome Jack. Now that Jack is gone, we can take you somewhere less isolated to start over.”

He swiped his watch. Blue and Jay looked confused as they spotted Gaige.

“Gaige,” Jay said with a nod.

“Jack is dead,” Tim said.

The digi-Jacks looked at each other before slowly nodding at Tim. Tim slumped back in the chair.

“We’re free to go anywhere,” he said. “Where do you want to go?”

“Promethea,” Blue said.

“Promethea?” Tim said, looking at him in confusion.

“I did some research. Promethea can be a harsh place to live, but if you’re in the right area, it can be successful. There’s a good theater and film life there,” Blue said.

“What, get back into acting?” Tim said in surprise.

“If you don’t know who to be, why not be anyone you want?” Gaige said. “I say go for it. We’ll help you find a decent place to live.”

Be anyone he wanted.

If he couldn’t find himself, he could pretend to be a whole slew of people. He could rebuild himself through acting. Maybe he’d find some of Timothy Lawrence amongst the scripts.

“Sure, why the hell not? Beats chopping down trees every day,” Tim said. He looked to Gaige. “You’re staying on Pandora.”

It wasn’t a question, but she nodded anyways. “My friends still need me there. We still have work to do.”

“You should call your dad,” Tim said.

“I should,” Gaige agreed. She wished Tim had someone to call.

“Come on,” Tim said, getting up.

“Where are we going?” Gaige asked in confusion.

He grabbed his gun from where she’d set it down. “Out to kill jabbers, or whatever we run into first. I need to clear my mind.”

Gaige brightened. “Hell yea, I love killing things.”

The two left the cabin, Blue and Jay following. Tim took Gaige to their usual hunting spot, which seemed to endlessly repopulate itself with jabbers. Sure enough, they were surrounded and firing off shots within minutes, back to back.

“You do this every day?” Gaige called over the gunfire.

“Often enough,” Tim called back.

Jack was dead. He would never get his hands back on Tim. Handsome Jack was gone. Tim shot a jabber as it leapt at him, watching it crash to the ground at his feet. He wondered if it had a mother.

Another jabber leapt at him before he had a chance to reload his gun, so he simply punched it in the face. It recoiled away, screeching angrily.

“Oh my god, you just punched a fucking jabber,” Gaige said, and started laughing so hard that Blue had to cover her. “In the face! Just right in it’s dumb fucking face!”

Tim rolled his eyes, but smiled and continued firing on their attackers. Gaige had been through so much, but she could find joy in something as simple as Tim punching a jabber in the face. He wanted to laugh as easily as she did someday.

When the jabbers laid dead at their feet and the world quieted to its usual white noises, Tim holstered his gun. He closed his eyes, just listening to the sounds that had become so familiar to him.

“Gaige,” he said, opening his eyes. “I want to go to Promethea. I want to start acting again. I…really loved doing it. Back before I became the doppelganger.”

“Then that’s where you’ll go,” Gaige said. “And you better send me ECHO vids of your stuff. Unless it’s porn. I don’t want that from you. You’re not my type.”

“You don’t deserve the sight of this undressed,” Tim said, gesturing to himself. “Cutting down trees builds muscle. Jack had nothing on this.” He flexed.

“Calm down there, showoff,” she said, pushing his arm down. “I’m glad you found something you want to do.”

He was glad, too. Acting was his passion, not Jack’s. He could use it to reclaim some long lost part of himself.

“For now, I’m chilling here for a few days,” Gaige said. “I came with Scooter. He had some Catch-A-Ride business to take care of. I’m staying at your place. Scooter keeps trying to get me to look at his, uh, magazines. I’m totally down for that, but he doesn’t have any with guys! Ugh.”

A few days with Gaige would be good for him. They could make a plan for his future, tentative as it was. And he could cheat at Go Fish a few more times just to get her swearing at him. He nearly smiled at the thought.

They walked along the path, Blue and Jay going back into the watch to recharge. Gaige seemed fascinated by all the green after so long on Pandora.

“Hey, Tim?” she said as they neared the cabin.

“Hm?” he said.

“Will you be okay?”

He stopped, so surprised at the question. No one had asked him that in a long time.

“I…don’t know,” he said honestly.

“I think you will be,” she said confidently, grabbing his arm and yanking it so that he started walking again. “The acting thing will be a good start. And you’re safe now. You get that, right? You’re safe.”

He didn’t feel safe. But hearing her voice sounding so sure as she said it did make him feel a little better.

“When Lilith killed him, I wasn’t sorry for any of it. The way he treated people…what he did to you, Angel, and Roland…I was glad he was dead. He was a monster. I would’ve been sorry if we had killed you back then. When you looked into Jack’s eyes, there was only that cold, smug expression. When I looked into your eyes, I just, I don’t know, I saw a person. Not some smug psychopath, but a normal person,” Gaige said, tilting her head up to look at the sky. “I’m glad he sent you to Opportunity that day.”

“Me too.” Tim said it honestly, and without thinking. He let the words register in his own mind, and thought them over carefully. He was glad Jack sent him to Opportunity that day. He got to meet Gaige. It wasn’t an easy life anymore, but it was a better life. It didn’t always feel that way, but Tim knew it was true.

He’d be on edge for a while. Jack had conditioned him well, with violence and isolation. With comfort and companionship. He’d be chained to those memories for a long time, but someday, the knowledge of Jack’s manipulation would shatter those chains.

Someday Timothy Lawrence would really be free of Handsome Jack.

That day wasn’t today, but today, he was walking alongside Gaige. And she looked fascinated by the world around her, and proud of the man next to her.

“Come on,” Gaige said, pushing open the cabin door. “Athena gave me a key to the place. Do you know how to cook?”

“Barely,” he said. “Guess we’ll figure it out together?”

“Yea,” she said, beaming a smile at him. “We’ll figure it out together.”

He didn’t feel afraid as those green eyes met his. He felt hopeful. Happy.

He’d be okay. They’d both be okay. Someday.

“Thanks, Gaige,” he said.

“You can thank me by not cheating at Go Fish later,” she said, but hugged him tightly. “Don’t you dare give me food poisoning, Timothy Lawrence.”

He laughed at how serious her tone had become. She fixed him with a glare, but couldn’t hold it long. She laughed and lightly hit his arm, pulling him towards the kitchen.

They’d be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading this!! I know it could've been longer and had much more action, especially at the end. But it was my first Borderlands fic, and my first long fic, so I hope you'll forgive that. I did post a sequel to this if you're interested! It's called "To Ashes" and you can find it here, or on my profile: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21168515/chapters/50384834
> 
> Please let me know what you thought of this story! And I hope to see you over at the sequel ^-^


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